Craven Park (Hull)
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New Craven Park is the home of Hull Kingston Rovers RLFC, situated on Preston Road in Hull, England.
The club moved to the new ground in 1989 from the 'old' Craven Park which was sited on Holderness Road.
The first match was played against Trafford Borough packing in a full capacity 8,500 crowd to watch. Rovers convincingly started the new era, and in that season were crowned Division Two champions.
The stadium was the former home to the Hull Vikings speedway team, but they left when the ground was refurbished for Hull Kingston Rovers use in the Super League.
In 2006 the ground and pitch were substantially improved as the club sought a return to the top flight of British rugby league.
Plans for Hull Kingston Rovers to move from Craven Park to a new purpose-built rugby league stadium to be constructed at a new, unconfirmed site were suggested in 2007, but shortly after this, Hull City Council, in partnership with Kingston Community Developments Limited and Hull Kingston Rovers, announced that terms for lease agreements had been reached to support the long term future of Craven Park. These terms will enable investment and development of the stadium to move forward.
Alongside the agreement, Hull City Council will also be reviewing the options with partners on how redevelopment of the stadium and its immediate surroundings could form the basis of a comprehensive regeneration plan for this area of east Hull.
The initial phase of redeveloping Craven Park was the lease purchase of a temporary seated stand which replaced the use of the inadequate south terrace for visiting away fans. Hull Kingston Rovers second season in Super League coincided with work beginning on the extension of the standing terraced East Stand. Due to be completed in March 2008 this extension should increase the capacity of the stand by 1,120 bringing it's overall capacity to 4,750. A similar extension to the opposite end of the stand is planned for 2009.
Along with the extension to the east stand, Hull Kingston Rovers intend to build a new purpose built stand at the north (Preston Road) end of the ground. Although official plans are yet to be completed or released, the club's CEO Paul Lakin suggested in interview that the stand is likely to be based on the recently constructed Carnegie Stand at Leeds Rhinos Headingley Stadium ground. The aim of the construction, as well as providing better facilities and capacity for visiting supporters and increasing the number of seats for home supporters, is to modernise Craven Park, become a main entrance to the stadium, and provide various public and private facilities contributing towards the planned regeneration of the area.
Other suggested ideas on the redevelopment of Craven Park include moving the temporary seated stand to the south end of the ground when work begins on the new north stand, and also developing the standing 'well' area of the Roger Millward (west) stand to create a new seated area. However the club may well weigh up the costs of replacing the west stand completely with a more modern full-length seated stand, but that is not currently on the agenda.
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