TIGERS' CHRISTMAS CRACKER

COLIN ALLAN RECALLS WHEN HULL CITY HOSTED ROTHERHAM UNITED ON CHRISTMAS DAY 6 YEARS AGO...

- COLIN ALLAN

"IT WAS Hull City 3-0 up until the last five minutes of this vital Christmas Day match and then Rotherham slipped in a couple of goals to make it 3-2 in a thrill-packed game. This late scoring rush, so typical of Rotherham technique this season, provided a sensational ending to a rousing encounter which the record crowd will long remember."

So wrote the Hull Daily Mail reporter about the top-of-table encounter between Hull City and Rotherham United in Third Division North on Christmas Day 1948. With only one team being promoted, it was a crucial meeting between the two front-runners which attracted a huge crowd at Boothferry Park. The official attendance was marked as 49,655 - a record for the regionalised league.

And, yes, it was Christmas Day! In fact, matches on Christmas Day were part of the festive tradition. Football provided one of the few entertainments over the public holiday.

A full Christmas Day fixture list carried on until 1957. The matches were often local encounters as the two teams met again on Boxing Day. This reduced travelling costs.

They were very popular with spectators, especially during the immediate postwar years. A jovial, holiday mood would dominate the stands.

Needless to say, the fixtures were not so popular with the players! The Hull City squad was marshalled by their outstanding player-manager, Raich Carter. It had been quite a coup for the Tigers to recruit him in March 1948.

The prematurely silver-haired Carter had been a star footballer since the pre-war days. Sunderland-born Carter had been in two FA Cup winning teams, first with his home-town club in 1937 and then again with Derby County in the first post-war final of 1946. He was an England international and highly respected in the game.