In our 120th year, the club have done some wonderful things to mark the club’s anniversary, such as the limited run commemorative shirts and jackets which found favour with us. Additionally, there have been some more modest, but no less impactful triumphs of marketing and club history celebration, such as the ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ launch and extremely limited run of themed beers produced in collaboration with estimable local brewers Atom.

Colourful ex-Chairman Don Robinson’s penchant for a soundbite is honoured with an IPA: Don Robbo’s Moon Juice recalls his memorable quote of “if there’s going to be a team playing on the Moon then we want Hull City playing up on the Moon.”

The IPS is complemented by a ‘BP Giants’ lager, which harks back to a uniquely Hull City approach to half-time entertainment from the 1990s. So who were the Giants?

A product of the demented minds of Simon Cawkill’s marketing team, eager to retain the attention of spectators during the half-time break. The giants were like medievally themed mechas/gundams, the pilotable robots in Japanese animation, only the battles they fought were more ‘It’s-a-knockout!’ slapstick than laser-beam scraps over space colonies.

There were six giants in all, with local firms invited to sponsor and essentially adopt a giant each, giving us Rocky Medd, Tyreworld’s Gripper, Hurricane Harcros, Turbo-charger Dixon, Hawk of British Aerospace and EYG’s Gladiator. Then on matchdays fans were invited to have a go at racing each other as they pilot the unwieldy and hard to steer giant suits. Pratfalls ensued, and club staff were on hand to help when they and their giant had taken a tumble.

City fans first got a look at the Giants at the last game of the 1993/94 season, v. Bournemouth, but didn’t see them in action until the club’s pre-season open day on Sunday 7th August 1994, a week before the 1994/95 campaign kicked-off.

At which point the Giants became the half-time entertainment, and whether this floats your boat or not, you must admit it’s more visually appealing than some bloke trying to hit the crossbar while shooting wearing winklepickers.

Here we have the Giants being transported in February 1995, and below, getting a spring cleaning in April 1995 by the hard-hatted chaps from Cleaning and Paper Disposables, supervised by Simon Cawkill…

Our memories of the Giants are a little vague, half time was for full-bladder relief and refreshments procurement largely, and they’ve been further dimmed by the passage of time. So, we are ready to be corrected if we’ve got some details wrong! Let us know your own recollections of the Giants. Did you ever pilot one? What were they made of exactly? Do you have one in your garage? Do tell…

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