That would stand up if crowds had declined to a similar extent elsewhere, many of which had far worse scenes of mayhem than you saw at BP. But they didn't.
They could do a roll call of the recently passed fans/players before kick off and do it then, after all we City fans are one big family, aren't we?
Think some clubs have a designated home game each season where they remember properly all the fans who have passed away. Saves this perma-wave of clapping, blubbing, grieving that has become a semi-permanent part of the modern matchday experience.
Was it a cease fire when we played Liverpool in the FA Cup in the mid 80's then ? 6,000 saw the league game before v Shrewsbury, and less saw the league game afterwards. In between people were queuing overnight to get tickets for the Liverpool game. Don Robinson said they could have sold over 40,000 tickets for the Liverpool tie. Did the people and families who were sick and tired of entering a war zone have a day off for that one ? Unless they thought Hull City v Shrewsbury was a more threatening place to be ? Non attendance is an excuse..
It was never that bad at City in the 70's it was mostly shouting obscenities at each other a lot of running to and fro and a few punches thrown, it wasn't til the 80's when knobheads started organizing fights that the police took an interest that's when the rot set in
The riches of the PL era meant that a customer upgrade was required. A seat occupies the space of two people standing, hence the price hikes. Out with the poor, in with rich. Blame it on the yobs, hee hee. Job done.
Not to mention Newcastle. Or Portsmouth who after being ****ed over far worse than ourselves are getting larger crowds in a smaller city for division 4 games than we are for PL ones.
It isn't quite two to one. The fact that football fans are fleeced is shown in higher prices where stadiums hold more than they did pre PL, Man Utd, Man City, Newcastle, Arsenal, Southampton etc...
The police didn't get very involved in the 1970s, limiting themselves to forming a wall between opposing fans. Which gave people a chance to pose and act the big man knowing they were quite safe. In any case as far as BP goes it was a brief period on Sledmere as they built a wall to stop people walking around.There were skirmishes in the ground but it didn't happen much outside. Three Tuns was rammed with away fans but there was only trouble on a couple of occasions. On a Saturday night you could bump into away fans who had been acting up in the ground and end product having a drink with them. It was just the thing at the time that you stood on your Kop End and resisted any intrusions. People who never got into confrontations elsewhere would not move. It was later when a new breed of organised thug became involved, aided by things like mobile phones, that the police became involved. Look at a picture of crowds kicking off back in the 70s and there were loads of scrawny kids. Now you see hordes of beefed up people twice their size. The shame is, as you have said, is that this has led to the over-policed and stewarded sterile environment we have now.
I hope I'm not being disrespectful, but I always think of going to a game as a fun, lighthearted occasion. Tributes to exceptional people is fine. But a routine homage to a never ending list of the dead would quickly lose its significance. Not for me, I'm afraid,
I would think that forming a breakaway alternative club is about as extreme as you can get in the staying away stakes. But other than that, I think this is a good post. I advocated boycott of home games over the name-change, in my opinion that was different to today; there was a clear and definable deadline, and then another. Common sense prevailed. I don't readily support a boycott now. There is no foreseeable, clearly defined deadline, just owner shenanigans. "In a way the only thing keeping us a success on the pitch is the Allams. Imho" This, as unpalatable as it may seem, is true. Staying away really is just cutting off noses to spite ... Yes the loss of concessions is beyond bad, but that can be fought in more ways than one; in the meantime enjoy the football, support the spirit of the team and show everyone on the outside that Hull City AFC have a support that is bigger than the pettiness of the owners. We might not love the next owner, what then, more boycotts? When does a boycott become just a good old fashioned loss of love and interest? When the owner wins his petty campaign, that's when.
