Grounds for nostalgia in fan’s Boothferry Park exhibition

Artist and Tigers fan Roland Wheeler-Osman has assembled an eclectic mix of exhibits, including his own photographs from the 1990/91 season and original artwork containing bricks, concrete and metal from the now demolished football ground.

The display, entitled My Memories of Boothferry Park, opened at Hull History Centre yesterday and will be on show until March 14.

Arike Oke, audience development officer at the centre, said: “Hull City Football Club is a vital part of the city’s identity and its former ground Boothferry Park carries a lot of emotional weight with Tigers fans.

“Hull History Centre is proud to welcome an exhibition by a fan, for the fans.”

The Tigers played their first match at Boothferry Park in August 1946, and their last in December 2002 prior to their move to the £43.5m KC Stadium, a mile away in West Park.

The ground housed a club record 55,019 fans when Hull City hosted Manchester United, but it has since been demolished after falling victim to a spate of vandalism and arson attacks while lying empty.

Mr Wheeler-Osman said the ground’s slide into ruin had given him the idea for the project.

“While I was studying for my art access course at Hull College I was inspired by the demise of the Boothferry Park ground,” he said.

Two years ago, a famous brass plaque that stood above the players’ tunnel at Boothferry Park was installed above the directors’ box at the KC Stadium.