prosper, and their black and white irregular hooped jerseys, which they adopted in 1909, became one of the most famous and feared strips in the league.

In 1913, they paid a world record £600, plus £14 per match, to Hunslet for Billy Batten, one of only seventeen players, and the only representative from Hull F.C., so far inducted into the British Rugby League Hall of Fame.

A year later the Airlie Birds won their first Challenge Cup, beating Huddersfield in the semi-final and Wakefield Trinity in the final held in Halifax.

Oliver was so dependable with the boot that the crowd at one match spontaneously started singing the Gene Autry song, Old Faithful, at him.

team won the league championship in 1956 when Colin Hutton kicked a last-minute penalty in the final against Halifax at Maine Road, Manchester.

The Airlie Birds lost the 1980 Challenge Cup final against Hull Kingston Rovers 10–5 and never won at Wembley until 2016.

It was reputed that a makeshift sign was left on the A63 (the major westerly road out of Hull) that read "last one out turn the lights off!"

In 1982, Hull F.C., crushed by Widnes in the Premiership Final, avenged the defeat with an 18–9 Challenge Cup replay win at Elland Road.

[7] The signing of Australian Peter Sterling, a 2006 inductee into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, maintained HullF.C.’s strength, and Bunting's men went to their third successive Yorkshire Cup beating Hull KR 29–12, but were edged out in arguably the greatest ever Challenge Cup Final in 1985 by Wigan at Wembley Stadium with a score of 28 to 24 in Wigan's favour.

lost the Premiership final in 1989 to Widnes, but two years later returned to beat them 14–4 at Old Trafford under coach Noel Cleal.

captain Richard Swain charged down a drop-goal attempt from Leeds skipper Kevin Sinfield in the dying seconds of the match.

lose four out of their first seven league games and also their defence of the Challenge Cup being ended at the first hurdle against the Bradford Bulls in a 23–12 defeat, to be replaced by Australian Peter Sharp who was recruited from Parramatta Eels where he was assistant coach.

signed five players: Matt Sing (a prolific National Rugby League try-scorer and Australian representative), Hutch Maiava, Willie Manu, Danny Tickle and Wayne Godwin.

The game was played in front of a sell-out attendance of 23,002 and ended with a result for the Black and Whites who had been struggling early in the season.

finished a poor 11th in the League in 2008, falling far short of the fans expectations, although a Challenge cup final appearance and a successful franchise application ensured the season was not a complete failure.

Several long serving players left the club at the end of the forgettable 2009 season, including Paul King, Graeme Horne, and Gareth Raynor.

Super League XV started well with five wins from the first seven games, the two losses coming away against Crusaders and Wigan Warriors.

18–14 in the first derby of the year at Craven Park, but then followed a period of one win from five games, in which the team were convincingly knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Leeds.

finished the regular season in 6th place, however a convincing 21–4 home defeat by rivals Hull Kingston Rovers brought an early end to their playoff campaign.

On 22 July 2011 it was confirmed that Hull City's Head of Football Operations, Adam Pearson had purchased the entire shareholding of the club together with his close friend Mikey Drake and they had taken over full control from Kath Hetherington.

They went on to convincingly beat Huddersfield in the first round of play-off games but fell to defeat away at Warrington in the preliminary semi-finals.

It is thought the record loss to Huddersfield in the play-offs along with the poor performance at Wembley were the main factors behind his demise.

[15] Following this initial defeat, Hull endured a 10-game winning streak and finished on top of the Super League table.

In March 2020, Hull FC announced the departure of Lee Radford after a 38–4 home loss to Warrington Wolves.

[16] It transpired to be Hull FC's final fixture before the nation was put into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Assistant coach Andy Last was put in interim charge of the club until the end of the 2020 season, guiding the team to the play-off semi-finals, where they were eventually upended by Wigan Warriors.

had started the 2024 Super League season poorly losing six of their first seven matches with their only victory coming in a last gasp effort against the London Broncos.

Like a number of grounds at the time, the pitch at The Boulevard was surrounded by a Motorcycle speedway track that was also later used for Greyhound racing.

The record attendance for a rugby league ground was 23,004 in 2007 when they played local rivals Hull Kingston Rovers.

's Hall of Fame:[47] Bill Drake · Chris Davidson · Gary Kemble · Richard Horne · Greg Mackay · Ivor Watts · James Leuluai · Jim Drake · Keith Boxall · Mick Crane · Paul Prendiville · Richard Swain · Tevita Vaikona · Trevor Skerrett · Billy Batten · Jim Kennedy · Joe Oliver · Clive Sullivan · Peter Sterling · Garry Schofield · Mick Scott · Arthur Keegan · Tommy Harris · Paul Eastwood · Phil Bell Also see Category:Hull F.C.