How would you feel if the owners decided to change the name of the club from Crystal Palace to ‘Crystal Soccer Castle‘* or something just as ridiculous?
This is just what the fans of Hull City AFC are having to face up to but it is certainly not without a fight.
In the build-up to the recent game at Selhurst Park we experienced a high volume of interaction on Twitter with fans of the Humberside club. The controversy that has hit them hard this season is the proposed name change to Hull Tigers (formerly known as Hull City AFC).
The plight that they face does not just effect Hull. It effects the whole of football and the decision that is now faces the Football Association is massive. Solidarity is required across the game and that is exactly what is happening.
The campaign #NoToHullTigers has our absolute backing and those involved have done a fantastic job throughout.
City Till We Die, a community group representing a broad range of Hull City AFC supporter organisations, met with the Football Association on Monday 3 February to discuss owner Dr Assem Allam’s application to change the club’s playing name to “Hull Tigers” from the 2014-2015 season. City Till We Die were requested to make a submission to the FA as part of their consultation with stakeholders.
You can read the groups submission to the FA and other articles in full by clicking on the link below but I do urge you to watch their three minute video. It is fantastic.
http://www.citytillwedie.com/fa-consultation/
Taking a step back, I do worry that there has been a similarly big decision already been made and if is bares any resemblance to this one in terms of the outcome then it is a huge concern.
The club formerly known as Wimbledon, a South London club known as The Crazy Gang and they were quite that. But their demise was instant. The result was not quite what anyone expected but the FA ratified the decision to ‘franchise’ the club and allow it to be moved to Milton Keynes and rebranded MK Dons.
Since then we all watched with interest the success story that is AFC Wimbledon but it’s just not the same. There is still plenty of ill feeling on the decision.
While the situation at Hull is perhaps far less dramatic, it is still one that highlights just how some owners are not able to connect with the fans. It is as if because they fund a club they can do whatever they want with their new toy to make it their own. If that means a rebrand like a franchise in American sport, then so be it. Why should we care?
Little does he realise the passion that the following of such a club has. If the owner of Hull City didn’t know before, then he certainly knows now having felt the wrath of them in the past couple of months. But that has not stopped his plans since they were out in the open and the application to the FA was submitted regardless.
The Wimbledon situation was quite different in the fact that it was pretty much ‘Americanised’. Treated the same as ‘franchise’ in US sports. This is nothing knew to a country where a city can pitch for a franchise that is failing in another city, or at least, they can once it has been made known of its availability.
But still, they were allowed to change their name and while it was a much more in-depth case, the name of a club is the soul that fans cling onto in this ever changing world of modern football. It touches once again on a hot topic that has been brought up several times already this season. Our feature ‘The Eagle Speaks’ covered it a few weeks back.
A lot of fans are bemused with the direction that the game of football is heading and often refer to the term ‘Against Modern Football’.
While more and more owners come to this country to buy a new toy by way of a football club, this decision has to stand for what football should be clinging on to in this ever changing world. It’s history. It goes back an awful long way and while there are plenty of clubs well over a 100 years old now, it is hard to relate to a club that has had its name changed.
The FA have to do the right thing and throw the request out. It cannot be allowed to happen. If it is then it will be a travesty and another nail in the coffin of the game that many of us fans once loved with an passion.
We wish the campaign #NoToHullTigers every success and hope that Palace will be playing Hull City AFC in the Premier League again next season.
* Crystal Soccer Castle is a tongue in cheek name for Crystal Palace by USA Soccer Guy who you can follow on Twitter here.
