Craven Park, Hull

Craven Park is a rugby league stadium located in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Hull Kingston Rovers, one of two professional rugby league teams based in the city.

History

Hull Kingston Rovers moved to the new ground in 1989 from Old Craven Park, which was sited on Holderness Road. The new stadium, costing £4 million to build, was the first in Rugby League to offer hospitality boxes. The first match was played against Trafford Borough on 24 September, with a full capacity 8,500 crowd a 48-8 first victory at the new stadium.
Ahead of the 2006 season, Craven Park's pitch was relaid and widened by with the removal of the greyhound and speedway track used by Hull Vikings since 1995, with Hull Kingston Rovers looking to make substantial improvements up to Super League standard as they sought a return to the top flight of English 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 enabled investment and development of the stadium to move forward.
The initial phase of redeveloping Craven Park was the lease purchase of a temporary seated north stand from Wentworth Golf Club, replacing the use of the inadequate south terrace for visiting away fans. Hull Kingston Rovers' second season in the Super League in 2008 coincided with work beginning on the extension of the standing terraced East Stand. This extension increased the capacity of the stand by 1,120 bringing its overall capacity to 4,750. A similar extension to the opposite end of the stand, which would have increased the capacity again by 1,200, was planned in 2009, but this expansion was placed on hold in 2011 as construction of a new North Stand took priority.
Construction work on the new £8.2 million mixed facilities North Stand began in 2012 following the removal of the temporary Wentworth Golf Club stand. The new stand was initially projected to be completed halfway through the 2013 season with the opening match set to be a Hull FC derby, however disputes between the club, Hull City Council and construction managers NPS saw the opening delayed to 2014. The disputes saw the North Stand cladded in sky blue rather than red as originally planned and club director Neil Hudgell fearing the stand would become a "glorified office block". Following its opening, the new North Stand was named the 'Colin Hutton North Stand' as a tribute to the former Hull KR coach and the Great Britain national rugby league team coach.
A new attendance record was set at Craven Park in 2018, beating the previous record of 11,181 in the season opener against the Leeds Rhinos in 2015. 12,090 spectators attended the stadium to watch cross city rivals Hull FC defeat Hull Kingston Rovers in a Good Friday derby.
A floodlight collapse in November 2018 saw Hull Kingston Rovers declare a 'major incident' and relocate players and staff to the University of Hull for off-season training. One pre-season match in 2019 was relocated and the club returned to Craven Park in late January using a temporary floodlight.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw all Super League teams play behind closed doors at two neutral venues for a majority of the 2020 season and two rounds of the 2021 season, with only a handful of matches being played with no fans at Craven Park in 2021. When crowds returned to season ticket holders only in May 2021, initial restrictions on crowd capacity saw the club erect a temporary seated stand over the disused South Stand, allowing a socially-distanced capacity of 6,000. The temporary stand was removed following the lifting of social distancing restrictions and replaced with a food and entertainment area on the site named 'Craven Streat'; another 1,000-seat temporary stand was erected in September 2024 due to very high ticket demand ahead of Hull KR's last regular match of the 2024 Super League season, and was reinstated again in August 2025 due to consecutive home sellouts during the 2025 Super League season.

Ownership

Craven Park and the adjacent land surrounding the stadium had previously been owned and operated by both Hull City Council and Kingston Community Developments Ltd, who had held a 250-year lease of the stadium, since Hull Kingston Rovers was rescued from administration in 2000. Following a period of negotiations between the club and Hull City Council, Hull Kingston Rovers purchased full ownership of the stadium in March 2022, with the option to purchase 15 acres of surrounding land also included in the deal.
With Craven Park under the ownership of Hull Kingston Rovers, the club has begun redeveloping or improving parts of the ground. The Roger Millward West Stand is planned to be demolished and replaced with a new structure capable of hosting corporate facilities, while further plans were submitted in June 2025 for the development of a sports village on land to the east of the stadium, which will include three new rugby league training pitches, indoor netball and basketball and outdoor padel courts, and a retail park along Preston Road with 400 car parking spaces.
On 10 December 2025, Poorhouse Lane, the single access road to Craven Park from Preston Road, was renamed to Phil Lowe Way, with special red and white street signs installed by Hull City Council to replace the standard black and white signs.

Layout

RSV Colin Hutton North Stand

Capacity- 2,600

The North Stand was originally a temporary stand from Wentworth Golf Club that was erected after the ground ceased being used as a speedway and greyhound racing venue. In 2013, the new £8 million Colin Hutton North Stand opened for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup game between Papua New Guinea and France. The North Stand also houses the Enterprise Business Centre and Training Centre. There are 42 fully furnished offices which make up the Enterprise Units, all of which are located on different floors within the North Stand.

Roger Millward West Stand

Capacity- 2,800,

The West Stand, also named after the club's greatest player Roger Millward, includes the main seated stand a small terraced area, 'The Colin McNicol Well', below executive boxes, which holds around 500 fans and is also home to a large mural, painted in 2018, that celebrates Hull's maritime heritage. The stand houses the stadium's main changing rooms that were redeveloped before the 2014 season to improve the size and facilities of the changing room. Inside the stand there is The Robins Nest, Flanagan's Bar, named after former player Peter Flanagan and The Harry Poole Bar for home and away fans. This is a restaurant with pitch-side views and exclusive player and coach interviews after a match. The stand also houses the TV gantry.

Wow Hydrate East Stand

Capacity- + 1,000 seated

The East Stand is a covered terrace that runs almost the full length of the pitch. The north side of the stand was extended in 2008, and the south side is due to be extended by January 2025; an extension of the terraces was initially placed on hold in 2011 due to the development of the North Stand, however the club announced in September 2024 that as a result of high demand for tickets pushing Craven Park towards full capacity, a temporary new seating area, featuring improved wheelchair facilities and a capacity of up to 1,000 fans, is to be built on the south side of the stand. This stand will be used for the duration of the 2025 Super League season, after which a £1.5 million permanent extension to the East Stand will be carried out during 2026.

'Craven Streat'

Previously a small bank of terracing at the south end of the ground, which was demolished ahead of the 2025 season, 'Craven Streat', established in 2021, offers live stage entertainment, a marquee with bars, street food and a big screen, inspired by the fan park of Canadian Super League expansion team Toronto Wolfpack's Lamport Stadium and American football tailgate parties. The name references the Craven Street Football Ground, the site of Hull Kingston Rovers' first rugby league matches.
Following the completion of the North Stand and Enterprise Centre, the club initially proposed in 2015 to build a new South Stand with an adjoining hotel to replace the disused terracing. In August 2024, work began on the construction of a 3G pitch on the site of the South Terrace and adjoining parking area, part of a new sports campus set to include new team training facilities, a gym and a lecture hall. Expansions for 'Craven Streat' were later announced a month later due to extension work on the East Stand taking up some of the fan park's footprint.

Naming rights

In 2011, local data communications company MS3 announced it had secured a five-year deal for the naming rights of Craven Park, the first such deal in the club's history. Fans of Hull Kingston Rovers voted on adopting either the name MS3 Craven Park or MS3 Stadium, with the vote resulting in the stadium being renamed MS3 Craven Park.
On 25 January 2014, Hull Kingston Rovers announced that it had secured a new stadium naming rights partnership with local communications provider, KC. Under a five-year agreement, Craven Park was renamed the KC Lightstream Stadium, not to be confused with the KCOM Stadium in the west of the city. On 3 February 2017, it was renamed again, and was then known as KCOM Craven Park.
On 21 August 2019, Hull Kingston Rovers announced a new partnership with Hull College, which saw the stadium renamed to Hull College Craven Park Stadium. This partnership also helped provide new training opportunities for academy players, as well as allowing Hull Kingston Rovers players to pursue degrees at the college.
On 18 January 2022, Hull Kingston Rovers announced a new name for Craven Park after confirming a two-year partnership with the Sewell Group. The deal saw the stadium renamed to Sewell Group Craven Park.

Years	Sponsor	Name
2011–2014	MS3	MS3 Craven Park
2014–2016	KCOM	KCOM Lightstream Stadium
2017–2019	KCOM	KCOM Craven Park
2019–2022	Hull College	Hull College Craven Park Stadium
2022–	Sewell Group	Sewell Group Craven Park