Supporters of Hull City who don’t wish to support a club called ‘Hull Tigers’ could be forced to renew season tickets before knowing the name of the team they’ll be supporting, or face being charged extra for waiting to find out.
In response to the latest application by the owners of Hull City to change the name of Hull City to Hull Tigers, The FA has begun a consultation exercise with interested parties, including HCST. Submissions from stakeholders are due in by Friday 8 May (the Trust’s will be submitted on the 5th). However the timescales associated with the FA decision process are such, it seems probable that this could all drag on until the next full FA council meeting in July.
In recent weeks, many Hull City fans have suggested to us, media outlets and through social media that they won’t support a team called ‘Hull Tigers’. At a recent Fans’ Working Group (FWG) meeting, the club’s representative agreed that he was “minded to provide refunds” for those who want them should they buy season tickets and the name change situation continue.[1]
Yet the club’s announcement and literature regarding season ticket renewals features no mention of refunds, indeed recent correspondence from the club states that they have made no arrangements for refunds at this time. The announcement did however state that fans renewing after May 23rd will be charged extra for doing so – well before the probable FA decision date for the name change.[2]
This means fans could be in the crazy situation of having to buy a season ticket before knowing the name of the team it is for, or pay even more for their season ticket. That is unacceptable, especially in light of price increases at a time when many are finding it harder and harder to finance their passion.
This situation is entirely down to the owners of Hull City. They’ve decided to go through with this process yet again, at this particular time of year when season ticket renewals are made. It’s therefore their responsibility to make arrangements for the season ticket sales process to fit around the process they’ve started with The FA, without penalising fans.
We call on Hull City to deal with the situation they’ve created by extending the deadline for renewals until after the name change process has been concluded or by providing a written guarantee of refunds upon purchase of season tickets which can be claimed if the name is changed to Hull Tigers.
[1] http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2015/03/notes-from-the-latest-fans-working-group-meeting-3/– These notes were agreed as a true record of the meeting by James Mooney at Hull City.