Hull City changing their name goes against tradition

Hull City owner Assem Allam wants to change the clubs name to Hull Tigers

On Wednesday Hull City owner Assem Allam applied to the English FA to have the clubs name changed to Hull Tigers.

This controversial change has been in the offing for a while now, but it now seems one step closer to reality.

Marketing

Mr Allam seems to believe that the change of name will lead to Hull becoming a bigger player in the overseas markets.

On the issue he told the Guardian: “I know it will make a difference; shorter names have a quicker impact, it is textbook marketing.

“Hull is relevant. City is not relevant. Tigers: are you telling me you would drop the symbol of power?

“I cannot keep throwing money into it. There must be a limit. Our target is for the club to be self-financed, relying on its own resources.

“Manchester United are selling shirts in the Far East, selling commercial activities all over the world. We need the club to be known globally, and shortening the name will make the club known globally.”

I have just one point to put across to Mr Allam. Is United not a commonly used name for a host of clubs in England? Manchester United sells shirts abroad because they have been majorly successful on the pitch in the last two decades, not because of a name.

If he believes that Hull changing their name to Hull Tigers is going to help them compete with clubs like United in the foreign markets he is really misinformed or just delusional.

Controversial

Not only has the prospective name change caused waves at Hull, Mr Allam himself has caused massive controversy with some of his comments. Fans of City have formed a group called ‘City Till I Die’ in protest at the name change and it has been met with a rather ridiculous response from the clubs owner.

He told the Guardian: “They can die as soon as they want, as long as they leave the club for the majority who just want to watch good football.”

“How can they call themselves fans, these hooligans, this militant minority, when they disturb and distract the players while taking away the rights of others to watch the football, and of companies who have paid good money for advertising?”

Tradition

I would think the majority of Hull fans protesting are not hooligans, but decent fans that have probably supported their local team for the whole of their lives. These are probably the fans that have been with the club through thick and thin.

For Mr Allam to talk about them in such terms is a disgrace. Just because he has invested money into the club does not give him the right to insult the very people that have kept the club going. Without the fans they are nothing. Players, managers and even owners come and go, but the fans remain.

Mr Allam apparently moved to the Hull in 1968, so he should have an understanding of the tradition of football and especially Hull’s place in the local community.

It seems a minority of foreign owners believe they can do whatever they want. Cardiff owner Vincent Tan for example has changed the club’s home kit from blue to red, much to the anger of a lot of Bluebird fans.

Do these owners not understand that football clubs are not franchises like in other countries? Football clubs are the lifeblood of a lot of communities, Hull is a perfect example of that. A change of name may not be a big deal to some, but for a lot of Hull fans it is a smack in the face.

Money

Unfortunately in modern football everything seems to come down to money. Just because Mr Allam has put money into Hull he thinks that he can do as he wishes and anybody opposes him gets insulted and derided.

He may have pumped a lot of his own money into the club, but he has shown very little class over the very controversial matter of the name change. Some Hull fans have even claimed they would rather the club play in the Championship without with Mr Allam, than play top-flight football with Allam still at the club.

Beginning

If this sort of thing is allowed then it will be just the start of football as we know it collapsing. It is common place in US sports for teams to change names or cities even. Football is not a US sport.

English sport and football clubs are steeped in tradition. A football clubs name is an identity, in Hull’s case that goes back to 1904. If this is allowed to happen then it will open the floodgates for all sorts of other changes, which no doubt will be of detriment to the English game.

Is anybody in favour of Hull switching their name, apart from Mr Allam of course?