Wigan stand between Hull and their first Challenge Cup win at Wembley, The last time Hull lifted the Challenge Cup, in Cardiff in August 2005, Adam Pearson was in Plymouth watching a 1-0 win for the city's football team who were still some way short of fulfilling their Premier League dreams. Now, as Hull City prepare to celebrate their return to football's top tier with a first home game against Norwich, Pearson is relishing the prospect of leading out, with his two young daughters, the black and whites at Wembley in his role as the owner and chairman of the great underachievers of British rugby league.
The first cup final meeting of Hull and Wigan since the 1985 classic – Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Henderson Gill and all that – kicks off at 3pm, the same time as the Premier League fixture at the KC Stadium. Early in the morning of a significant sporting day in the city more than 170 coaches will head west along the A63 for another hopeful pilgrimage down the M1.
Hull have never won at Wembley in seven final appearances, as they are regularly reminded by supporters of Hull Kingston Rovers who inflicted the most painful of the defeats in 1980. Their three cup wins came at Thrum Hall in 1914, Elland Road in 1982 – in a replay after a Wembley draw against Widnes – and Cardiff eight years ago.
Yet Hull rivals, and probably surpasses, Leeds as the British city where league means the most and, although the resurgence of Rovers to provide a second Super League force in the East Riding for the past seven seasons has diluted FC's financial clout, winning a single trophy – that memorable triumph against Leeds at the Millennium Stadium – in more than two decades is a damning statistic.
Having spent a large chunk of his adult life working in the city, Pearson, who is from West Yorkshire, recognised that potential when he bought the club in the summer of 2011. He describes reaching Wembley, in the second full season since he brought Peter Gentle from Australia to lead a complete overhaul of the coaching staff, as "the first step" on a road that will lead, if all goes to plan, to a first Super League Grand Final win at Old Trafford in the next couple of years.
In many ways the success of Wigan under the ownership of Ian Lenagan over the past four years represents the model Pearson wishes to follow. This will be their second Wembley appearance in three summers, having previously endured a 16-year absence from the venue with which they remain so closely linked after winning the cup for eight straight seasons from 1988 to 1995.
Like Hull they continue to enjoy substantial support despite the unprecedented success of their footballing landlords, because rugby league is so deeply embedded in the town and its surrounds. "It's the heartbeat of the place, pretty much," said Joel Tomkins, who is now exiled in Hertfordshire and plays rugby union for Saracens.
He scored a spectacular long-range try, having been set free by his younger brother Sam when Wigan beat Leeds two years ago, and admits he will envy Sam and Logan, a third Tomkins who is in line to make his Wembley debut at the age of 22, when he takes his seat alongside a posse of fellow Saracens including Andy and Owen Farrell.
The Tomkins boys are two of 11 local lads in Wigan's 19-man squad. Hull have six, including Jamie Shaul, a pacy but raw full-back, the loyal veteran Richard Horne, and Ben Crooks, a rangy centre whose father, Lee, played in the 28-24 defeat by Wigan 28 years ago. Pearson is convinced that, in time, they can match Wigan for homegrown talent – even if the locals in Hull would pronounce homegrown slightly differently.
Hull are underdogs, not so much because of the club's wretched Wembley record as the fact they are nine points and four positions below Wigan in the Super League table, despite the Warriors' recent wobble. Wigan's consecutive defeats by Huddersfield and Catalan could be seen as a worry, although the suspicion is that their coach, Shaun Wane, has been protecting his key men – notably Sam Tomkins and Sean O'Loughlin, the tough and skilful captain – in a very old-fashioned Wembley way.
They have the potential to blitz Hull in the early stages although, if the forecasters are correct, this could be a rare wet-weather Wembley, if not quite a repeat of the Watersplash final of 1968. It would be greedy and unrealistic to expect anything quite as good as 1985 but the game is set up intriguingly nonetheless.
The first cup final meeting of Hull and Wigan since the 1985 classic – Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Henderson Gill and all that – kicks off at 3pm, the same time as the Premier League fixture at the KC Stadium. Early in the morning of a significant sporting day in the city more than 170 coaches will head west along the A63 for another hopeful pilgrimage down the M1.
Hull have never won at Wembley in seven final appearances, as they are regularly reminded by supporters of Hull Kingston Rovers who inflicted the most painful of the defeats in 1980. Their three cup wins came at Thrum Hall in 1914, Elland Road in 1982 – in a replay after a Wembley draw against Widnes – and Cardiff eight years ago.
Yet Hull rivals, and probably surpasses, Leeds as the British city where league means the most and, although the resurgence of Rovers to provide a second Super League force in the East Riding for the past seven seasons has diluted FC's financial clout, winning a single trophy – that memorable triumph against Leeds at the Millennium Stadium – in more than two decades is a damning statistic.
Having spent a large chunk of his adult life working in the city, Pearson, who is from West Yorkshire, recognised that potential when he bought the club in the summer of 2011. He describes reaching Wembley, in the second full season since he brought Peter Gentle from Australia to lead a complete overhaul of the coaching staff, as "the first step" on a road that will lead, if all goes to plan, to a first Super League Grand Final win at Old Trafford in the next couple of years.
In many ways the success of Wigan under the ownership of Ian Lenagan over the past four years represents the model Pearson wishes to follow. This will be their second Wembley appearance in three summers, having previously endured a 16-year absence from the venue with which they remain so closely linked after winning the cup for eight straight seasons from 1988 to 1995.
Like Hull they continue to enjoy substantial support despite the unprecedented success of their footballing landlords, because rugby league is so deeply embedded in the town and its surrounds. "It's the heartbeat of the place, pretty much," said Joel Tomkins, who is now exiled in Hertfordshire and plays rugby union for Saracens.
He scored a spectacular long-range try, having been set free by his younger brother Sam when Wigan beat Leeds two years ago, and admits he will envy Sam and Logan, a third Tomkins who is in line to make his Wembley debut at the age of 22, when he takes his seat alongside a posse of fellow Saracens including Andy and Owen Farrell.
The Tomkins boys are two of 11 local lads in Wigan's 19-man squad. Hull have six, including Jamie Shaul, a pacy but raw full-back, the loyal veteran Richard Horne, and Ben Crooks, a rangy centre whose father, Lee, played in the 28-24 defeat by Wigan 28 years ago. Pearson is convinced that, in time, they can match Wigan for homegrown talent – even if the locals in Hull would pronounce homegrown slightly differently.
Hull are underdogs, not so much because of the club's wretched Wembley record as the fact they are nine points and four positions below Wigan in the Super League table, despite the Warriors' recent wobble. Wigan's consecutive defeats by Huddersfield and Catalan could be seen as a worry, although the suspicion is that their coach, Shaun Wane, has been protecting his key men – notably Sam Tomkins and Sean O'Loughlin, the tough and skilful captain – in a very old-fashioned Wembley way.
They have the potential to blitz Hull in the early stages although, if the forecasters are correct, this could be a rare wet-weather Wembley, if not quite a repeat of the Watersplash final of 1968. It would be greedy and unrealistic to expect anything quite as good as 1985 but the game is set up intriguingly nonetheless.
