1860 - 1900
1865 – The club was formed by a group of ex-pubic schoolboys from York. There is no definite as to when the club was formed but it was likely in the winter of this year after the cricket season had finished. The club would have played a game with rules that had both football and rugby traditions but the rules would have been very different to what they are today.
1866/67 – Hull FC’c first ever game against a team called Lincoln. Again the rules would have been different to the regular rugby rules of today, each club even had slightly different rules so the captains would meet before the game and agree on the rules they would use for the game. At this time Hull FC played their home games at Woodgates Hall in North Ferriby.
1870 – Hull FC moved to a ground in Selby near the Londesborough Arms Pub. The club was moved closer to West Yorkshire so the West Yorkshire teams could travel easier to the ground when playing Hull FC.
1872 – Hull FC joined the Rugby Football Union
1872/79 – Hull FC were moved again to a ground in Londesborough Street Rifle Barracks. The club moved another two times within this time period, they played at a ground at Haworth Arms Field and then moved to the site of current stadium West Park. At this time a local team call Hull White Star was beating many of the teams around and began to earn a name for themselves.
1881/82 – Hull FC formed proposal to merge with Hull White Star and form a bigger and more united one club, the officials at White Star agreed and the club kept the Hull FC name. Hull FC moved grounds again and played at the ground where the White Star team had played called Hall’s Field in East Hull on the site where Mersey and Severn Streets are today. The ground had a capacity of around 5,000.
1884 – Hull FC finished runners up in Yorkshire RFU Cup
1891/94 – Hull FC enquired about moving to the Boulevard in West Hull where Hull KR played their home games. Hull FC came up with an agreement with the landlords and had offered three times the amount of rent for the year than current tenants Hull KR were paying. Hull FC realised that they couldn’t afford to keep two grounds on so they decided to sell their Hall’s Field ground in East Hull and moved into the Boulevard in West Hull.
1895 – September 21st Hull FC play their first game at their new Boulevard home against Liversedge. A crowd of 8,000 people turned up to watch the game.
Also at this time the famous meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield took place were 22 teams from Yorkshire, Lancashire and the North of England decided to break away from the RFU and create the Northern Rugby Union, this would become the Northern Football League in 1901/02 and then the Rugby Football League.
1899 – September 16th the very first Hull v Rovers derby game. The rivalry began and the huge demand for tickets saw people queuing to get in for many hours. It’s being said that there were 20 Hull KR fans that slept in the ground overnight so they could watch the game. The game was a 12,000 sell out and created traffic chaos around the city.
1900 - 1940
1906 – Rugby League changed from 15 players on a team and brought the number down to 13 players per team.
1908 – Australian tourists Jimmy Devereux and Andy Morton join Hull, they were two of the best performing Australians from the touring party. Jimmy Devereux would go onto play 181 games and score 101 tries for Hull.
1908/1910- First team to appear in three successive Challenge Cup finals
1914 – Hull FC win their very first Challenge Cup. Australian Bret Gilbert becomes the first colonial captain to win the Challenge Cup. Jack Harrison set the record for the number of tries in one season, he scored 52 tries and this is the current record and will be very hard to beat. John Harrison was his real name but people called him Jack. He scored an astonishing 106 tries in 116 games for Hull FC.
1917 – Jack Harrison posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming the first sportsman to achieve the feat.
1918/19 – Yorkshire League Champions
1919/20 -Northern Union Champions
1920/21 – Northern Union Champions
1920/21 – Winger Billy Stone was England’s top try scorer on the 1920 Australian tour.
On 5th November 1921 the first ever test match was played at the Boulevard, it was also the first test match to be played in Hull.
1922/23 - Challenge Cup Finalists and Yorkshire League Champions
1923 – Yorkshire Cup Champions
1926/27 – Yorkshire League Champions
1928 – Harold Bowman and Welshman Emlyn Gwynne were chosen for the Great Britain tour of Australia.
Also in this year Joe Oliver signed for Hull from Batley. Joe would go on to become the clubs all-time leading points scorer amassing 1,842.
1931-32 – Hull sign Australian Dick Fified, he would go on to score 80 tries in 224 games for the club.
1935/36 – R.L Champions and Yorkshire League Champions
1936 – Hull beat Wigan with a late goal from the touchline after scoring a try in the corner. The ecstatic crowd began to sing Gene Autry’s chart topping hit ‘Old Faithful’. The song then becomes the clubs famous adopted anthem.In March 1936 the Boulevard achieved it biggest ever attendance standing at 28,798
1938-41 – Hull were runners up in the Yorkshire Cup in the 38/39 season, they were also runners up in the Yorkshire League during the 40/41 season.
1940 - 1980
1947/48 – Not much happened of great note in the history of the club around this time. The club made some dramatic decisions by signing four Australians to shake things up and improve the success of the club. Bruce Ryan, Duncan Jackson, Keith Gittoes and George Watt were signed in the hope of winning some silverware. Mick Scott was also promoted from the Boulevard Juniors.
1953/55 – Three successive Yorkshire Cup Finals
1954 – Hull FC signed one of the leading scrum halves in the game in Tommy Finn, he would form part of the legendary teams throughout the 50s. Tommy would score 131 tries in 374 games for the club.
Roy Francis became the first black professional coach in any British team sport.
1955 – R.L. Champions
1956/58 – Hull won the Championship beating Halifax at Maine Road, Manchester with a Colin Hutton last minute conversion and then won it again two years later beating Workington.
1959/60 – Coach Roy Francis led Hull to consecutive Challenge Cup finals, the club were beaten both times by Wigan in 59 and Wakefield in 60 in the first visits to Wembley Stadium.
1961 – September 9th Clive Sullivan made his debt for Hull.
1963 – Johnny Whiteley becomes player/coach of Hull, he would later take over as coach from retired coach Roy Francis in 1965.
1976/77 – Won Division 2
1978/79 – Hull returned to the top flight by going undefeated through the whole promotion winning campaign, this is a record that still stands today as the only team to go unbeaten through a full season.
1980 - 2015
1982 – January 23rd Hull FC beat arch rivals Hull KR 12-4 to win the John Player Trophy at Headingley.
November 16th Hull played Australia at the Boulevard in what is described by many as the best game ever to be played at the Boulevard. The Australians won the game after a dodgy refereeing decision cost Hull the game. Hull won their second Challenge Cup in 82 beating Widnes 18-9 in a replay.
1983 – Arthur Bunting’s legacy continued to grow when Hull won the league, the club also reached the Premiership final, Challenge Cup final and Yorkshire Cup final, the club would only taste success in the Yorkshire Cup final.
1985 – Australian test star and regarded as the world’s best player Peter Sterling worked his magic in a semi-final against Castleford to earn a replay in which Hull won. Hull met Wigan in the final at Wembley, the game is regarded by many as the best Challenge Cup final in history, Hull’s goal kicking let them down and they narrowly lost 28-24.
1989 – Hull lost the Premiership final to Widnes but two years later in 1991 they would return to Old Trafford and play Widnes again but this time they were triumphant.
1990/91 – Hull won the RL Premiership beating Widnes 14-4 at old Trafford
1997 – Coach Phil Sigsworth guided the club to the Super League after winning the First Division title, the club were beaten by arch title rivals Huddersfield in the Plate final at Old Trafford.
2002 – October 22nd after 107 years Hull play their final ever game at the Boulevard against New Zealand.
2003 – The clubs first game against Sheffield Eagles at their new state of the art ground the KC Stadium.
2005 – The clubs third Challenge Cup success against Leeds, with a narrow 25-24 victory at Cardiff.
2006 – Hull reach their first Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford against St Helens.
2008/2013 – Hull Reach the Challenge Cup final unsuccessful on both occasions, firstly to St Helens and then in 2013 to Wigan.
