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The news that next Monday night's England Under-21 game at the Kingston Communications stadium will be played to a "full house" means that the new venue will notch up two attendance records even before a ball's been kicked on the night.
With 24,000 tickets already sold, it means that next Monday's match will set a new stadium attendance record for any football game played there, beating the 22,467 who were present at the inaugural fixture at the KC Stadium when Hull City AFC entertained Sunderland in the Raich Carter Trophy.
Next Monday's attendance will also beat the previous attendance record for international football in the city, a record that's stood for over 50 years. The game in question was played on 14th May 1949, and was a youth international between England and Northern Ireland.
In front of a crowd of 21,000 - producing gate receipts of £2,100 - England defeated their Irish opponents 4-2. The attendance set a record for England youth games, at home or abroad.
Captaining England that day was Frank Harrison. Although Harrison was an amateur on the Tigers' books, youth football back in the 1940s was still organised on a county basis; as such Harrison was classed as representing the East Riding of Yorkshire. Harrison represented his country on four occasions at youth level, captaining them twice. He also went on to make over 200 League and Cup appearances for the Tigers.
Although it was a tremendous honour for Harrison, the match was a triumph for George Bromilow; he scored a hat-trick in the game. Bromilow went on to make his mark in the Football League playing as an amateur for Southport between 1955 and 1958. He made 84 League appearances for "The Sandgrounders" and scored 34 goals. He also continued his England career, representing them at senior amateur level on five occasions.
Man of the match for Northern Ireland was a young man who played on the wing in that game and would go on to play for his country at full senior level 56 times. His name was Billy Bingham and not only did he captain his country on numerous occasions, he also managed them twice: 1967-1971 and 1980-1994.
Although not playing in the game against Northern Ireland, one member of the England Youth squad that season did go on to not only captain his club, but also his country. It wasn't at football though that he achieved this honour, but cricket. Brian Close - representing the West Riding FA, and also on the books of Leeds United - made his England Youth debut against Scotland in October 1948.
Close made 536 appearances for Yorkshire CCC and captained them between 1963 and1970. He also played 22 times for England, captaining them seven times. As a member of the highly successful Yorkshire team of the 60s Close was no stranger to Hull, and in particular to the area on which the KC Stadium stands, for during his career with the Tykes he played at The Circle 20 times.
Whilst Monday night's attendance will set a new record for the city as far as international football is concerned, it does not break the record for representative soccer in the city. That is still held by Boothferry Park and dates back to October 1965 when 28,283 spectators watched the Football League defeat the League of Ireland 5-0.
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