On Saturday 23 November, during the first half of the home game against Crystal Palace, a banner reading “We Are Hull City” was displayed within the ground. Stewards attempted to remove the banner by trying to pull it out of the hands of its owners. The resulting tug of war caught the attention of television cameras and the national press, and has aroused strong emotions amongst many Hull City supporters.
City Till We Die would like to clarify that this banner was not produced or financed by our group, and that we were unaware of its existence. Our 25-foot wide City Till We Die flag was paraded in front of supporters before kick off. We sought permission to do so before the game, and this was agreed to by the club.
Our No To Hull Tigers campaign encourages supporters to make their feelings on the name-change known by singing City-themed songs, as a way of simultaneously backing the team. We have no desire to cause disruption which might distract the players.
However, we think it is a sad state of affairs when a banner with a message as harmless as “We are Hull City” is deemed unacceptable in our own ground.
We believe the actions of the stewards who tried to confiscate the banner were ill-advised, could have had very unfortunate consequences, and were certainly not in line with Dr Allam’s assertions that City supporters can “say what they like” and “call the club what they want”.
We hope there will be no further attempts to deny Hull City supporters their right to engage in peaceful protest.
Links:
The Guardian’s match report:
“Other than forcing three or four corners, all of which were easily cleared, the crowd’s interest featured on a protest in which some of the many supporters against the club’s mooted change of name to Hull Tigers were initially prevented from parading a banner reading ‘We Are Hull City’ in front of the East Stand… Eventually the stewards relented, taking the heat out the situation, but the chanting continued, and the episode left club owner Assem Allam’s assertion that most supporters do not care about the issue looking ridiculous.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/23/hull-city-crystal-palace-premier-league
The Press Association’s match report:
“It was a grim and forgettable outing at the KC Stadium, as notable for the home fans’ protests against the proposed renaming of the club as anything that occurred on the field.
Owner Assem Allam looks set to proceed with plans to rebrand the side as Hull Tigers, but there was nothing for the locals to roar about as they turned in arguably their limpest display of the season… Most of the best entertainment involved fan protests against the proposed name change, with a large ‘WE ARE HULL CITY’ banner being paraded around the stands before stewards waged an unsuccessful tug-of-war with the ring leaders. When the message was once again unfurled, it was met with deafening approval from all four corners.”
YouTube
http://youtu.be/FSGXO5xpD_E – view from the East Stand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q04lat8lgck