We've had this year's results in for the Hull City Southern Supporters Hall of Fame (the only City-related Hall of Fame that seems to be active any more). This year's inductees are: Viggo Jensen Brian Horton Boaz Myhill Don Robinson (Committee's Choice) In answer to any queries, the person who isn't in there that you think should be in there either a) hasn't accrued enough votes, or b) isn't eligible yet (players must have retired, managers/backroom staff must have been away from the club for five years, so Steve Bruce is up for it next year). The others to have been voted in are: Ken Wagstaff, Ian Ashbee, Chris Chilton, Raich Carter, Dean Windass, Billy Whitehurst, Stuart Elliott, Justin Whittle, Nick Barmby, Billy Bly, Warren Joyce, Phil Brown, Andy Dawson, Adam Pearson, Tony Norman, Garreth Roberts, Andy Davidson, Harold Needler, Keith Edwards, Peter Taylor, Les Mutrie*, Ambrose Langley, Jimmy Lodge, Ken Houghton, Pete Skipper, Geovanni, Tom Wilson*, George Maddison, Ian Butler, Gary Brabin and John Cooper*. Committee's Choice inductees are denoted with an asterisk.
I've also had the honour of visiting Don Robinson in the past few weeks to present him with a tankard to commemorate him being in our Hall of Fame. He was genuinely delighted with the award, and you can see him posing here with my book. He suffers from Alzheimer's sadly, though is still in good shape physically. He seemed to think Hull City fans had forgotten him. This award and my reassurances soon put paid to that! I also got members of the Boothferry Park group on Facebook to send him a load of messages, which he was genuinely touched by. They included messages from Garreth Roberts and Chris Needler, among others. The whole thing was such a joy to be involved with, and really put a smile on Don's face. As anyone who's had a loved one suffer as Don is will know, being able to bring a bit of light into their lives in such a way is a lovely thing to be able to do. Don was still very much the Don we all knew and loved though: energetic, chatty, funny, generous (he came out and gave my two boys £20 to spend on ice-cream). A lovely man left in no doubt as to what he means to Hull City fans.
A little surprised Ray Henderson (early to mid 60's) does not show up in the hall of fame. IMO he was the unheralded final member of the all conquering, prolific forward line of that era (R-L: Henderson, Wagstaff, Chilton, Houghton, Butler) and was an integral part of the team's success. Maybe not enough HCAFC supporters around with memories of those days ? Decent goal scoring record in his own right - with what must have been a heavy assist record for supplying the important pass to the other lads. https://www.hullcitytigers.com/a-foot-in-both-camps-ray-henderson/ Ian McKechnie is another omission that surprises me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McKechnie
I think McKechnie has been a couple of votes off getting in in most votes we've done. With Henderson, he's been in the mix but not really accrued too many votes to be honest. The rest of that famous forward line are in all there though. While you tend to get a bit of recency bias in all of these things (though the very recent players tend to struggle a bit), I'm fairly happy with the spread of eras represented. While I didn't necessarily vote for each inductee I would say that each person in there fully warrants it. I would imagine McKechnie will be admitted in years to come - though Steve Bruce would take up one of the places next year, you would think.
My main memory of Henderson is the 2nd replay against Boro at York. I was living in Leeds and after the game at Boro and the first replay was skint so I had to flog my Levi jacket to get to York. City made a substitution and brought Henderson on. An older fan near me said to his mate as he came on "That's it. If hoss face Henderson is on we're ****ed. I'm off down the pub." and left. Soon after we were a goal down and I seem to recall that Henderson was the one that lost possession and that led to the goal. Of course that may be wrong and I stand corrected if it is.
Indeed, all well warranted inductees. In fact, I managed to get quite a few of their autographs when Waggy invited me to the final game @ B.P. to meet the ex-players who attended. They signed the inside front cover of Waggy's biography, which I think I entered a photo of them the Tigers History thread. Knowing who's already in the "club" may well eventually get some of the missing older ex-players in the exclusive group ? How many are added after each vote (assuming annual occasion ?).
We started with an initial vote of 20 plus one Committee's Choice, then two years of four plus a CC, and this year it's been three plus a CC. Next year I think it will be two and a CC. After that - when we've had fivers years-worth of votes, the plan was always just to have two additions a year, with CCs added as and when we think they are warranted. The big initial vote was to get all the star names out of the way, so to speak, as there was more than 110 years of history to get in there. There's always a balance between getting enough people in there to make it of interest but not opening it up too much so that anyone and everyone can get it. My votes from here onwards will be for Billy Askew and one other, for what it's worth.
Maybe it would have been better to split the votes into periods so that the older players (mainly stars) could be added along with the younger players every year.
That's what we've done, Peter. For the past two years we've insisted on a certain number of nominees pre-WW2. This year, there had to be a nominee 'pre-Chillo', as we felt the players of the 1950s were missing out (hence Viggo rightly being inducted). Not sure what we'll do next time out yet, but there are still some great names from before most voters' times not on there - EGD Wright, Matt Bell, Jackie Smith, Doug Clarke, Bill Bradbury, etc... - so we may keep some sort of split in there.
I remember my dad telling me about the pre-1964 players (when I started going). He wasn't a big fan but most men in Hull in the late 40s and all the 50s would go to a lot of City matches.
Out of interest Richard - how many members are in the Southern Supporters club ? There's a spattering of HCAFC fans here in North America - just wonder what the critical number is for setting something up over here - although convening meetings would be a logistical nightmare - other than a digital gathering - Zoom like !
AlRawdah will have a better idea of current figures but I think there's been a dip in recent years, for obvious reasons. It was 350 or so not so long back, but I suspect it's nearer 200 now.
BP got some pretty decent crowds in the old 3rd Div North when my granddad started taking me in '54 or '55. Exciting, sometimes intimidating experience. Started off in the North stand, but moved to Bunkers end if the toss was lost and the opposition chose to be awkward. Didn't happen very often mind - must have been an unwritten rule in those days to let the "Kop" end receive the home team attack in the 2nd half. Maybe it happens now - never really checked 'cos most football watched is now on telly !
