Oli McBurnie
Well blogmates, I had a splendid day today, here at the start of the merry month of May.
I drove over to Hull to see what might have been my team's last match of the 2025-26 football season. We were up against Norwich City. If we won the game we would have a reasonable chance of making the end of season play-offs for the last remaining promotion position.
The MKM Stadium was packed and because Norwich are a well-supported team, their corner of the ground was filled with The Canaries' distinctive yellow and green garb.
THe atmosphere was electric when the two teams came out of the tunnel and just before kick-of f it seemed that every Hull City fan was in good voice as we sang:-
Wise men say
Only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay?
Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you?
Please don't ask me why, Tigers fans adopted that old Elvis Presley number a few years ago because I have no idea. Perhaps Elvis himself was a closet Hull City supporter.
Anyway, Norwich City scored the first goal, coolly hammered home by Mohamed Touré. The Hull City army felt their hearts sink into the pits of their stomachs but there was no need for such despair because two minutes later we won a penalty when bustling Joe Geldhart was felled in the box.
Up steps Oli McBurnie and drives the ball down the middle into the back of the net. GOOOOOOOAAAL!
Halftime came. I went down to the concourse to meet up with Tony and Karl again. We were nervous. Our competitors, Wrexham, were drawing with Middlesbrough and Derby County were beating Sheffield United. At that moment, it looked as though we could forget the play-offs.
The second half commenced and time was ebbing away until in the sixty seventh minute, Oli McBurnie slides home what turned out to be the winner. Hull City fans went wild and my facial muscles could not control the big smile that illuminated my countenance with unadulterated joy.
When Croatian keeper, Ivor Pandur, plucked a Norwich corner out of the sky in the very last minute, it was as if he himself had scored a goal.
The other results went in our favour and so now our season is extended into the play-offs. We will be taking on London club Millwall next Friday night before the second leg happens down in the capital the week after.
It's an exciting end to the season and even if we do not make it to the Wembley final at the end of the month I know that our team will give it their all. It has been a very good season to be a Hull City supporter.
And I know that there are plenty of wannabe Hull City fans out there in the blogosphere - such as Andrew in Melbourne, JayCee on The Isle of Man and Jennifer in Florence SC - so specially for you here are today's highights. Enjoy!
The video is unavailable in Australia.
ReplyDeleteIn our house we generally give up on the news at the point where the sporting coverage starts. It would have to be some really exciting weather (due at the end of the bulletin) to keep us watching.
Not to disrespect your euphoria if it's your thing and the atmosphere must have been electric.
A more worrying thought is that if such a win can cause such good feelings, what might the consequence be of the feelings of the losers?
German chancellor Willi Brandt famously regretted (as a misjudgement) resigning when his underling/confidant was discovered to be an East German spy, putting it down to the stress he was under at the time from trying to give up smoking. Could Hitler have started WWII because he was in a bad mood because his team lost in the Reichesliga?*
(*As opposed to because his team lost in WWI.)
Thank you for your advice regarding the video. I have now changed it to the official Hull City video so I hope this will be "available" to wannabe Australian Tigers fans. I think Hitler was angry at the world because he was not admitted to the art school in Vienna. His work was shit.
DeletePS: We have our own Tigers to follow in Australia - originally Balmain and now Wests Rugby League in Sydney, and Richmond (Australian Rules) in Melbourne. And there are a few others. Not that I follow any of them myself.
DeleteNo. I don't suppose you do follow them Marc. I imagine you swanning around your colonial-era mansion in your purple velveteen pantaloons with a glass of chilled chardonnay absorbed in some obscure symphony by one of those classical wallahs - Bohuslav Martinů or Joachim Raff perhaps.
DeleteIf only! My domestic and financial circumstances fall far short of your imaginings.
DeleteGreat choice of composers though. Raff only known to me as a name, but I quite like some Martinu and have played some. He has a tendency to write "sewing machine" music - you could think of it as proto Steve Reich.
In reality I know as much about classical music as you know about the history of the off-side rule in proper football (i.e. NOT Aussie Rules) but I have a yearning to really listen to Chopin if I could only find a suitable CD in a charity shop. I have frequently looked.
DeleteWhy not buy your grand-daughters a piano and send them off to lessons? If they have aptitude and apply themselves you could well be able to listen to them play some simpler Chopin by the time you are about eighty.
DeleteThank goodness the video is not available here and I don't have to pretend I watched it. If the Presley song in the team song, well that is just weird. It would be a fun song for mass singing but for football?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but family traditions mean I am bound to Newcastle United. (fingers crossed that is the same league)
I have now changed the video to the official Hull City video so I hope this will be "available". Please try to watch it again.The line "I can't help falling in love with you!" is a rousing declaration of club loyalty.
DeleteSo is there singing in the video? I skimmed through and couldn't catch it. 7:35 minutes of football otherwise about 7 minutes and 30 seconds too much for me.
DeleteThe video did not capture the crowd's singing of "Land of Hope and Glory".
DeleteThe video is unavailable in Germany, too.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased for you that your team is doing so well. It sounds like a very emotional time at the game.
I have changed the video and hope that it is now "available".
DeleteMaybe the team should change their name to The Elvis. That might explain the song choice??
ReplyDeleteIf they were called The Elvis they would be all shook up by the other teams. Aha-aha!
DeleteI was just talking yesterday about the thousands of soccer games I have been to in my life. Always cheering on my kids and now grandkids at their games.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your team.
Good mama and good grandma. You could form a grandmas team and play interstate games.
DeleteFootball is the talk of the break table at work but I have no idea what they're on about. I just flick the channel of the TV to the snooker.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Kimberworth, it is about time you visited The New York Stadium to cheer on The Millers. You could dye your beard red and white and use it like a scarf. Is it Kimberworth?
DeleteWell it sounds like Oli certainly earned his paycheck!
ReplyDeleteI voted for him as our "player of the year". A true warrior.
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