Basking in the sun and glory: Thousands attend Hull City bus parade
HOMECOMING HEROES: The parade begins
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
Hull City’s players and staff received a heroes’ welcome with an open-top bus parade through the city this afternoon, two days after securing promotion to the Premier League by winning the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley.
Perhaps in another sign that the planets were aligned for the Tigers this season, the occasion fell on a Bank Holiday Monday – the hottest May day on record – allowing thousands of fans to join in the celebration.
The wilting heat was familiar to any of the 33,500 City fans who had experienced the cauldron of Wembley on Saturday to watch irrepressible striker Oli McBurnie score the only goal of the game in stoppage time to beat Middlesbrough.
And like one of McBurnie’s late runs into the box, the open-top bus appeared unexpectedly on Ferensway from the A63, when many had been looking for it coming up Anlaby Road.
There were hundreds of jubilant supporters waiting at that junction, waving flags and singing “Come on you ‘Ull” as the bus trundled along led by a police car.
The players were clearly delighted at the reception, wearing beaming smiles and waving at the legions below. Hundreds more lined Ferensway for as far as the eye could see as it began its journey across Hull, which would also take it along Beverley Road, Sutton Road, Ings Road, Holderness Road, Witham, North Bridge, Freetown Way, back along Ferensway and up Carr Lane before its final stop at Hull City Hall.
‘MASSIVE MOMENT IN MY LIFE’: City fan Flynn Sharp
Among those watching it set off was Betty Burton, 91, and her friend Vivien Mariau, 69, both resplendent in City shirts. The pair attend all home games but could not make it to Wembley, although Betty watched the final at the MKM Stadium.
Betty said: “A friend of mine got me into Hull City and she was here in 2008 [the parade for a previous play-off final win] but she’s died so I’m here for her as well.” She was it was “very important” for her to be here to welcome the players back for the parade.
Vivien said of the dramatic finish to the final: “I was so nervous after McBurnie got the goal it seemed to go on forever. But they really deserved it.”
RECEPTION: Fans wait for the bus at the junction of Ferensway and Anlaby Road
For many making their way to Queen Victoria Square to see their heroes on the city hall balcony, the victory and City’s new status as a Premier League club was still sinking in.
They included 16-year-old Flynn Sharp from Gipsyville, who had been at Wembley with Dad Darren, 48, and his 19-year-old sister Grace – remarkable in itself as Grace had undergone brain surgery just three days earlier.
“I’m still speechless, to be honest,” said Flynn. “I’ve got a video of my face after the goal and it’s unbelievable. It was a massive moment in my life and my Dad’s life for him to be there with his son and daughter.
“It’s massive for everyone of course, the players and all the fans.”
PREMIER LEAGUE: The players soak up the atmosphere
The city centre had been awash with City shirts hours before the parade began, a spectacle accompanied by the frequent blaring of air horns.
The main event in Queen Victoria Square began at 2pm, with pitch-side stadium announcer Steve Jordan and DJ Eddie Richards warming the crowds up from 3pm as smoke from amber flares drifted across the blue sky.
For those unable to get a good vantage point two large screens had been set up, one beside the city hall and another at the entrance to Whitefriargate – the crowds went that far back.
SOMEWHERE UP THERE: The squad arrives on the balcony
It gave the organisers the opportunity to screen highlights of the game, complete with near misses and close chances. But there was only one moment everyone was waiting for – that quick passing in midfield followed by a clever run down the left by Yu Hirakawa before he delivered the perfect cross into the area.
You felt you were watching in real time again as the Boro keeper fumbled and McBurnie pounced. The roar in Queen Victoria Square that followed gave anyone who had not been at Wembley a chance to feel just a little of what the noise must have been like in the stadium.
The crowds grew ever more expectant as the DJ set ramped up, with The Housemartin’s Caravan of Love and then Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond – often the curtain raiser to big events, having everyone thinking the bus must be near. But no, it was delayed because of how many people had turned out across the city to see it, Steve Jordan said.
WINNERS: The players proudly show the trophy on the balcony
And then, a full 50 minutes behind schedule, the big screens showed the bus pulling up beside the city hall.
Minutes later, the victorious squad was introduced one by one as they walked out onto the balcony – each relishing the chance to hold the Play-Off Final trophy aloft, followed by head coach Sergej Jakirović and owner and chairman Acun Ilıcalı.
It was time to party.