The Great Divide

A family, and in ascending size order, usually, neighbours, the street, town, city, county, region, nation, continent, hemisphere and world can be divided on, in descending order, resources, wealth, culture, politics, language, education, sport, housing, parking, hedging and choice of takeaway.

In their own way and sphere of influence even the smallest point of contention can cause major rifts, fractures and tears in the fabric of life.

In our city of Hull the main divide is east to west across the urban sprawl. The physical feature forming the front line is the tidal River Hull which flows in and out of the Humber. It is bridged in many places but being navigable the crossing points have to be of a mechanical lifting or swinging type. Sensible in itself but smacking of a possibility of perpetuating the segregation of the city by whosoever has control over their operation.

Because of this feeling of insecurity the constituent parts of the city have polarised into tribal colours of their Rugby League teams, the red and white of Hull Kingston Rovers from the east and the black and white of Hull FC from the west. The fortunes of the teams, like the demilitarised zone represented by the river, have ebbed and flowed, stagnated, become muddied and mired and on increasingly rare occasions been in full unstoppable flood and so, in following have the loyal, respective supporters in their sense of status, achievement and pride.

The display of team colours is everywhere. Weekend and work apparel is strongly influenced by the latest release of replica , authentic sponsored jerseys to such a extent that the shopping streets of Hull can resemble a solid block of red/white and black/white moving effortlessly and seamlessly about their business.

Commercialism is a fact of life for the sport with frequent changes of the naming of the League and in recent years the introduction of teams from the south of England, having been a predominantly northern working class game and France.

Embroidery and iron on transfer business must be booming on the basis of the proportion of the high tech sports fabric under some form of logo. Not just a chest emblazoned main sponsor anymore but sleeves, cuffs, epaulettes, collars, shoulder yoke and shirt tail as well as any spare gaps in between which have potential for overprinting with your own name, nickname or dedication. The wardrobes of loyal supporters must be expansive to accommodate year on year changes to the strip and also variations within each season for home games, away games, Sunday and Friday matches and for one-off competitions such as Finals. This latter event has been regrettably absent from the honours roll of both our city teams for many years.

Merchandise is also extensive and inventive. New born babies will be first swaddled in team colours and returned home triumphantly branded in what will be a life-long, periodically euphoric but mainly stressful and disappointing obsession. Casual wear for the ladies includes boob tubes, halter tops, vests and a full soft sheen leisure or jogging suit in rich velour.

There are many individual and customised attestations to the team you support. House frontages afford a great opportunity for a display of colours on woodwork and rainwater fittings, door and window frames, where not in bright white UPVC, and with flags and banners acting as curtains and blinds. The small oval glazed pane of a plastic front door can sustain a stained glass and leaded caricature of a league player in full flight with ball in play.

My late father in law, having installed a neutral and functionally white kitchen in a house he was working on returned the following day to fit the handles only to find it had been re-painted in the gawdy post box red of Hull Kingston Rovers. The tribal basis does not however prohibit or stifle mobility amongst the population of the city. It may be necessary to cross the divide for employment or even a mixed marriage. My wife, from the east side of the city and a HKR fan has had to endure many years of residence on the western side and on a daily basis expresses a desire to return to the homeland.

I am of course not a native of these parts and feel able, therefore , to stand back and review the situation but in no way can I appreciate the true depth of emotions that are involved in supporting not just a team but a heritage and ethos across what really is an unbridgeable divide.