Like all the best ideas, TigerTubePlayer – a channel dedicated to celebrating and reminiscing about the history of Hull City – was conceived in a pub.
Fast-forward 13 years and, what began as a chat between three friends after a few pints, is now the go-to channel for Hull City fans to relive the greatest, the most iconic and, often, just the most downright bonkers moments of their colourful history.
With the MKM Stadium celebrating its 20th anniversary this weekend, we met with James Richardson – the curator and accidental guardian of the online archive cherished by city fans.
“It was the result of a trip to the pub! My friends James McVie, Les Motherby and I were bemoaning the lack of old City footage on the internet when other football clubs seemed to have plenty,” explained James.
“James mentioned he had several VHS tapes of City footage that were collecting dust, and I had the facility to digitise them, so it seemed to make sense for me to try and preserve the footage on the tapes if I could and make them available to the City fanbase as a whole.
“Les was the co-editor of the Amber Nectar website at the time and offered to host the footage to try and enlarge it’s audience, and it snowballed from there.”
So, in 2009, TigerTubePlayer was born.
We asked James to pick out his top 5 pieces of content from the channel and explain what makes them so special –
The Move to the New Stadium
“It’s crazy thinking we’re two decades on from the move back to The Circle. This footage from BBC Football Focus really brings back fond memories of the opening night vs Sunderland and captures the excitement amongst the fans, club and city as a whole for a new era.”
“It proved to be a greater catalyst than anyone ever could’ve thought.”
Dean Windass’ Hull City Goals
“This was a long-term project of mine after establishing TigerTube, although I only managed to get around to putting it together during the lockdowns of 2020. Deano’s story at City is well known now, but attempting to piece together as many of his goals as possible took a long while.
“It’s frustratingly incomplete by a few goals but I really like it as a document for not only his own brilliance but also showcasing how the club markedly changed during the 18 years from his first appearance to his last.”
Tampa Bay Rowdies Friendly
“Don Robinson’s name will be forever connected with City’s successes in the 1980s after his arrival when the club were arguably at their lowest ebb.
“His natural showmanship shows through on a lot of the footage in the archive, but perhaps none more so than the arrival of Tampa Bay Rowdies at Boothferry Park as part of the two-legged Arrow Air Trophy match which saw Don dress as a cowboy and ride around on horseback. It’s hard to imagine many Chairman doing that now!”
A Kick in the Balkans
“One of the longest videos in the archive is the Yorkshire TV documentary from 1990 that followed City out to Bulgaria – a matter of months after the fall of Communism – for a pre-season tour and an exploration of potential commercial links in the country.
“It’s fascinating seeing the culture shock on the City squad given how common place these tours are now for football clubs. It’s really enjoyable having the documentary hosted by John Helm, fresh from the World Cup in Italy, and the sight of him in a City kit at the end is unforgettable!”
Hull City vs Sunderland 1970/71
“As time moved on the significance of the footage I’ve managed to gather together has become obvious to me. There simply isn’t much of the wonderful City team of the 1960s to hand, so the bits and pieces I’ve got are priceless.
“It’s a team my grandad spoke of in hushed tones and giving supporters that weren’t fortunate enough to be around when Ken Wagstaff or Chris Chilton were in their pomp, see exactly why their names are engraved in the history of Hull City, is precisely why I started the archive in the first place.”
