Hull City Kits had the privilege of being among the many exhibitors of Tigers memorabilia on show at the Senior Tigers event at the MKM Stadium on Thursday 6th June.

The event ran from 10.30am till 7pm, and attracted a constant stream of visitors, and our collection of match shirts seemed to impress many.

Former players Nick Barmby and Adam Lowthorpe shared some great kit insights with us: Barmby said that when he was manager he wanted us to wear white shorts as the Tigers had in the mid to late 1970s, and that he had a constant battle to get smaller shirts from the kitman, who tended to give everyone XL despite the need for shirts to fit all sizes ending when the League went with squad numbers in 1999. That confirms that our 2005/06 home Barmby shirt in XL isn’t an aberration (or a snide!)

Adam Lowthorpe talked about the felt Needler’s Sweets patches used in 1994/95, and how they absorbed water and became quite heavy. He cited a specific example of a game at Shrewsbury.

Of the shirts we exhibited, two seemed to really grab attention: The 1980-82 home by adidas, which had those with 80’s casuals aesthetic sensibilities (i.e. blokes aged 40-55) cooing with delight, while others marvelled at the smaller than usual text used on a 2009/10 away shirt worn by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. If we had a pound for every time someone cracked the ‘paying per letter when having a shirt printed’ gag we’d be able to buy the 1986 Maradona away shirt worn v England.

Of course we think our display was the best, but there were some fantastic items on show, here are some of our favourites…

1. The Boothferry Park road sign – I grew up just off Boothferry Road, my dad moved the family to be near the ground, so I saw this sign almost every day, not just on matchdays. I remember planning to swipe this sign when Boothferry Park closed, but a savvy City fan beat me to it, by simply asking the Council if he could have it! **sobs**

2. The family of Billy Bly had a spectacular array of items on display, including the shop sign from the legendary ex-Tigers sweets and tobacco store on Anlaby Road. What we loved most, however, was this 1948/1949 Division Three North champions medal. Just incredible.

3. Mind you, it was really cool to see Jacob Greaves’ 2020/21 League One champions medal too!

4. The club had some of it’s trophies on display at the event. Recency bias meant most people wanted to lift the 2016 Championship Play-Off final trophy that Michael Dawson held aloft at Wembley, but as someone who saw his first game in the 1982/83 season, the Fourth Division runners-up trophy was special to me.

5. I’m not even sure how to describe this item, but this unfathomably ornate gift from the Japanese FA when we played Japan in 1971 is just wonderful.

6. It’s hard to imagine supporters being issued the means to start fires in football stadiums these days, but in the 70s these matchboxes with Tigers players on them were freely handed out. This box allows us to marvel at Jeff Wealands’ red Umbro ‘keeper jersey!

7. There were some great framed posters from the 1980s, advertising a Newcastle friendly (with emphasis on Kevin Keegan’s appearance), friendlies against continental opposition and the Anglo-American cup match against Tampa Bay Rowdies. Our favourite, and this is only Hull City adjacent, was the poster advertising the appearance of the Harlem Globetrotters at City’s gymnasium behind Boothferry Park.

Not an exhibited item, but check out former club chaplain Reverend Bagshawe’s pistachio green get-up. The man has steez.

Hopefully this won’t be the last of such events, and we stand ready to assist if the club ever create a permanent museum, a Tigers Reliquary if you will.