BP1:



Pressure or not this is absolutely massive, make no mistake about that. If this draw had come about twelve months ago I think we all would have shrugged our shoulders and hoped to God that we were not humiliated again on our own patch and in front of the cameras. But a year is a very long time in sport and Hull Fc are a very different beast in 2025 (in case anyone hadn't quite noticed yet). These upcoming derbies, especially the first one, are anything but a foregone conclusion as some still seem to be assuming.


I suspect that both camps are feeling come through this one and the big prize is within reach. It feels already like a Cup final at the quarter stage. Whoever comes out on top will be fired up to go all the way. We have home advantage, we owe them for our dreadful performances in last year's derbies and this competition genuinely feels like a wide open field with Wigan gone. Everyone, apart possibly from Salford, will be fancying their chances of lifting the old tin pot, so why not us? We've started the season well, we look fit, committed, organized, enthusiastic with an excellent team spirit, we've just dumped the tournament favourites out, so why not us?


If there was no pressure on us then I would be sat here feeling as relaxed as can be, but I know for a fact that come kick-off time every one of us in the stadium will be on a knife edge with our stomachs doing flip-flops. It's games like this that remind me of why exactly I love and hate sport in equal measures, high octane derbies especially!!! Dread to watch it, but can't walk away from the spectacle!


This is the biggest derby in 40 years, since the JP final in January '85, arguably the first time since then we've gone head to head with both teams looking like genuine contenders. There is an awful lot at stake here, not just temporary bragging rights, if the winners do subsequently go on to lift the trophy at Wembley in June this quarter-final win will form a significant part of the legend in the years to come. 


I have a feeling Cartwright and his team are going to be right up for this. The Challenge Cup is our only realistic chance at turning a season of quiet rebuilding/consolidation (in itself commendable after the horrors of 2024) into a magical year writ large in our storied history. It will also have the added bonus of putting Lassie back in her kennel after all the grief we have copped from the other side these past couple of years. A chance to derail their supposed march to the summit and extend the drought further. 


This is not the time for black & whites to meekly lay down and die, it is the time to rise up and face the enemy square in the face and vanquish them on the point of our sword!!!! Make no mistake, this is far from a foregone conclusion, it is a 50/50 call, it go could either way (us or them), the team that are fearless and grab the opportunity with both hands will be the one that marches on to even greater glory. 


I'll say it again, Hull Fc Challenge Cup winners 2025, WHY NOT US?   

Jake the Peg:



I was there too.  It was a weird place the old caravan park.  I see  to remember that there was a train carriage turned into a food outlet at the back of one of the stands

The Dentist Wilf:




Can't remember us being first and second at a Derby with the exception of 84 The railway carriage was spot on think it was a tote office for the dogs too. Sure was a strange place do you remember the Tote Board end where we all stood behind privet hedges in the late 70's? 

BP1:



We may have been 1st & 2nd the previous year also (April '83), but not wholly sure on that.


The April '83 Boulevard derby was postponed by a couple of weeks, I think, due to our Challenge Cup involvement. We ended up meeting a little later on a Friday night game (possibly?) in what was essentially a title decider. We ended up running out easy winners that night (21-3ish?) and simply strolled to the crown after that.


Being a high-octane early eighties derby, that night was not without incident either! culminating in an all-in 26-man brawl around the hour mark. This resulted in Gary Kemble and John Lydiat being given their marching orders. I think they were dismissed for being the only two players who didn't throw a haymaker during the melee, think all other 24 players landed at least a couple of direct hits on the opposition!! 


All good clean fun, eh!! But there sure was some tough hard-nuts on that pitch that night. Heaven only knows what they would make of some of the penalties and sending-offs being dished out today. Most of those early eighties Fc-rovers forwards would be lucky to play half a dozen games per season by today's standards!!


PS I'd forgotten all about those privet hedges, but I can picture them now. We all used to cram onto the crumbling terraces at the Holderness road end on derby day, peering over the top of those hedges!!!   

Jake the Peg:



I was there too.  It was a weird place the old caravan park.  I see  to remember that there was a train carriage turned into a food outlet at the back of one of the stands