Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league.
Hull KR have won the League Championship six times and Challenge Cup twice. In 2025, the club won its first League Leaders' Shield, and the 2025 Super League Grand Final for the first time, and in 2026 they won their first ever World Club Challenge, to win all 4 trophies.
Hull Kingston Rovers are one of two professional rugby league teams in Hull. Hull F.C. play on the west side of the city, and Hull KR on the east side, at Sewell Group Craven Park. The River Hull is the divide between the two. Hull KR's nickname, "The Robins", originates from their traditional playing colours of red and white.
After a ten-year stay in the Super League (2007–2016), they were relegated to the Championship in the 2016 season, due to the Million Pound Game. In the 2017 Championship season, Hull KR successfully gained automatic promotion back to the Super League, at the first time of asking.
History 19th century Hull Kingston Rovers began in 1882 when a group of apprentice boilermakers in the Hessle Road area of Hull came together to start a team, Kingston Amateurs. Their first ground was a piece of wasteland in Albert Street, the club started playing in the Hull and District League in the autumn of 1883. By 1885 Kingston Amateurs had played at three grounds, Albert Street, Anlaby Road and finally Chalk Lane. The club name was also changed to Kingston Rovers as they entered the Times Cup in the 1885–86 season. A number of clubs joined the league and the club entered the new Hull and District Rugby Union Cup, losing to Hull A in the final. The club won its first trophy in the 1887–88 season by winning the Times Cup, beating Selby A in the final. The Hull Kingston Rovers moved to their fourth ground, down Hessle Road.
In 1888–89, 6,000 fans turned up to the cup game against Hull A at the Holderness Road ground, which ended as a draw. Rovers went through the next season losing just two games, defeating Britannia in the Times Cup final.
Rovers beat Hull A for the first time in 1889–90, and moved to their fifth ground, again down Hessle Road. The Red and Whites won the Times Cup for the third year running in 1891–92 beating York A in the final. 1892 saw Rovers play at the Boulevard for the first time and they leased the ground for three years from the following season. Only one away win was recorded this season and six home wins, but Rovers entered the Yorkshire Cup for the first time although they were knocked out by Dewsbury in the second round. In 1893 Rovers played out of the Boulevard, and they lost to Bradford Northern that season in the first round of the Yorkshire Cup. Amos Law, a drop kicker joined the club from Cleckheaton and Huddersfield, while George William Lofthouse played at the age of 14; the youngest ever player to turn out for the senior side.
In 1895 the Northern Football Union was founded, when the leading rugby union sides in the North of England broke away to form a league of their own, comprising 22 clubs. Rovers, then nicknamed "the redbreasts" did not join the new organisation and were instead promoted to the second division of the RFU finishing joint second. They moved to their first ground in East Hull in Craven Street off Holderness Road. In 1896–97, they were denied a place in the first division when several sides resigned but when the West Riding club dropped out, Rovers moved up.
Hull KR amalgamated with Albany Soccer Club. After a successful amalgamation the clubs resources they then went onto win the Yorkshire Cup for the first time beating Shipley 11–5 in the final. The club also won the league competition and beat the rest of the league 26–8 in a challenge match. Rovers applied to join the Northern Union and played their first match under the new code in 1897–98.
Rovers were elected into the inaugural Yorkshire Second competition in 1898–99 winning all 17 matches. A club record of 19 consecutive league play-off and cup wins was set in that season with the club subsequently defeating Heckmondwike in a promotion/relegation match to qualify for the Yorkshire Senior Competition. Hull Kingston Rovers were thus admitted into full membership of the Yorkshire Northern Union and finished 6th out of 16 beating Hull 8–2 in the first local derby on 16 September 1899, in front of a 14,000 crowd.
Early 20th century In 1901–02, the top Yorkshire clubs formed their own 'super league' and Rovers played in the Lancashire League finishing 5th out of 13. Hull Kingston Rovers were one of the new teams to join the second division and finished joint second.
In 1904–05, Rovers reached the Challenge Cup Final losing 0–6 to Warrington in front of a crowd of 19,638. In the first round on 4 March 1905, Rovers beat Brookland Rovers 73–5 with G.H. 'Tich' West scoring 53 of the points with 11 tries and 10 goals, still a club and world rugby league record. In 1906/07 they reached the final of the Yorkshire Cup only to lose to Bradford F.C. 5–8.
In 1908, Rovers gained a memorable 21–16 win over the first touring Australian side. In 1911/12 they finished 3rd out of 27 but lost 10–22 to Huddersfield in the final of the Yorkshire Cup. In 1912/13 Rovers finished 3rd again out of 26 clubs and lost to Wigan in the Championship semi final play-off and finished runners-up in the Yorkshire League Championship.
Leagues were suspended in 1915 due to the First World War. When an official regional league resumed on 18 January 1919, Rovers finished 19th out of 25. In 1920/21, Rovers finished top of the Rugby League but lost 14–16 to Hull F.C. in the play-off final at Headingley. They had their revenge in the Yorkshire Cup final beating Hull 2–0 to win their first cup as a professional side.
Rovers then moved to their second ground in East Hull, Old Craven Park, behind the tram and bus depot on the eastern end of Holderness Road in 1922. The land cost £18,281 and included 14 tennis courts. They lost their first match at the new ground 0-0-0 to 0–1–3 Wakefield Trinity on 2 September 1922, Albert Rosenfeld scoring Trinity's try. The club finished 4th out of 27 in the league and they won the League Championship Cup beating Huddersfield 15–5. In season 1923/4 Gilbert Austin voluntarily ended a run of 190 consecutive appearances when he was selected to play for Yorkshire, which he considered a great honour.
1924–25 saw Rovers finish 2nd in the league, win the League Championship Cup, the Yorkshire League Cup, were semi-finalists in the Yorkshire Cup and runners-up in the Challenge Cup final. In 1925/26 Rovers finished 6th and won the Yorkshire League Championship. In 1926/27 the club finished 6th out of 29 but managed to beat a touring New Zealand side 20–15.
In 1929–30 Rovers won the Yorkshire Cup beating Hunslet 13–7 in the final, and finished 6th in the league. In 1933/34 the club lost 4–10 to York F.C. in the Yorkshire Cup Final.
Hull Kingston Rovers sold Craven Park for £10,750 to the Greyhound Racing Company in 1938 due to financial difficulties, securing a 21-year lease to continue playing there.
Post-Second World War Leagues were again suspended during the Second World War. When the league resumed in 1945 Rovers finished 18th out of 27. Between 1947 and 1957, Rovers finished between 17th and 29th in the league. Colin Hutton was Hull KR coach from 1957 to 1970. In 1958 the club's fortunes started improving, finishing 18th out of 30. In 1959–60 the club finished 13th out of 30, the first time the club had finished in the top half of the table since 1930–31 – the players shared a bonus of £500 to share.
In 1961–62, the club won 17 successive matches and finished 8th out of 30. In 1962, the league was split into East and West of the Pennines; Huddersfield and Hull Kingston Rovers met at Headingley, Leeds in the first final of the Eastern Division Championship on Saturday 10 November 1962. Reigning champions, Huddersfield were favourites to lift the Eastern Division title, especially as Rovers were missing five first choice players with injuries. The Robins, however, set the early pace and were 10–0 up after 30 minutes. Despite a rally by Huddersfield, Rovers hung on to win 13–10. Rovers win was their first trophy for more than 30 years. In 1962–63 as two division rugby returned, they finished the season tenth out of sixteen in Division 1.
In 1963–64, Rovers reached the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley for the first time, losing 5–13 to Widnes in front of 84,488 fans. A return to Division One rugby was made in 1964–65 when Rovers finished 8th out of 30. In 1965/66 Rovers finished 12th out of 30. Rovers finished second in 1966–67, their highest place for over 40 years and the Yorkshire Cup was won with a 25–12 victory over Featherstone Rovers.
The club bought Roger Millward from Castleford on 8 August 1966 for the sum of £6,000. Rovers won the Mackeson Trophy for being the top points scorers in the Rugby League. Rovers won the Yorkshire Cup for the second year running in 1967–68, beating Hull 8–7 in the final; the first all-Hull final in 47 years. The club finished third in the league and lost 10–17 to Wakefield Trinity in the play-off final; Rovers were runners-up in the Yorkshire League and beat the Australians 27–15 with Millward scoring a hat-trick.
1970s Johnny Whiteley joined Hull Kingston Rovers as coach in 1970 and stayed until 1972.
In the early 1970s Hull KR purchased a site at Winchester Avenue with the aim of building a new stadium. The plans never came to fruition and the site was later sold to a private developer. The profit made from this land was used to buy back Craven Park with greyhound racing continuing as a subsidiary concern.
New Zealand visited Craven Park on 8 September 1971. The Kiwis, playing their third game in five days, were unable to match the Robins, who beat the Kiwis 12–10.
Rovers won a further two Yorkshire Cup winners medals in 1971/72 and 1974/75. In 1973/74 the club was relegated to Division 2 when they finished 14 out of 16 in Division 1. Rovers gained promotion back to Division 1 the next year and won the Yorkshire Cup for the sixth time beating Wakefield Trinity 16–13 in the final. They also reached the semi-finals of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy, the John Player Trophy and the Premiership Trophy. In 1975/76 the club were runners-up in the Yorkshire Cup losing 11–15 to Leeds.
Coach Harry Poole died in 1976/77, and Millward took over as temporary player-coach and in his first season guided the club to their first ever BBC2 Floodlit Trophy victory as the Robins beat St. Helens 26–11. The club finished 4th out of 16 in the league.
Phil Hogan was transferred to Hull KR in 1978 for a then world record fee of £35,000. Rovers topped the league for the first time since 1925. In 1979/80, under coach Roger Millward, Hull KR achieved a famous defeat of neighbours Hull, by a margin of 10–5 in the final of the Challenge Cup, at Wembley in front of 95,000 fans. A makeshift sign was left on the A63 (the major westerly road out of Hull) that read "last one out turn the lights off!" due to most of the city travelling to Wembley for the final. Also, a '10–5' bar is now situated inside Craven Park.
Steve Hubbard scored nine out of the ten points for Rovers. Millward played the full game, despite having his jaw broken early in the game. Earlier in the same season, Rovers had lost in the final of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy against Hull.
1980s and early 1990s