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FA Cup: Heartbreak for Hull City in cup final

Hull City's FA Cup dream turned into heartbreak, losing 3-2 to Arsenal in the Wembley final

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10 surprising facts about Hull City

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  • In 1984, Hull City declared they would play in the first ever football match on the MOON. Then Chairman Don Robinson took the squad to NASA’s base in Cape Canaveral during an American tour but admitted he hadn't found a team to play against.
  • Hull City took part in England’s first ever penalty shootout – and lost. The Tigers were defeated by Manchester United in the semi-final of the short-lived Watney Cup in 1970, with George Best scoring the first spot-kick.
  • Denis Law then became the first player to have a penalty saved in a shootout while City keeper Ian McKechnie became the first player to miss when he fluffed the deciding penalty.
  • A random set of celebrity Tigers fans are American indie heroes Pavement, who also once owned a racehorse called Hull City Tiger, which itself had a song dedicated to it by Hull based band Salako.
  • A film about Hull City has won an OSCAR. Well, kind of. See You At Wembley Frankie Walsh, a comedy about a fan choosing between a wedding and a cup final, was awarded best foreign film at the 1987 Student Academy Awards.
  • The film's director, Mark Herman, has smuggled references to his beloved Tigers in most of his films since. In Little Voice, for instance, Ewan McGregor character's pigeon was called Duane after then star striker Duane Darby, while in Brassed Off the celebratory balloons were in black and amber.
  • London 0 Hull 4 wasn't just the title of The Housemartins' 1986 album, it proved to be a football prophecy. In October 2008 Hull City beat West Ham to take a fourth win out of four against London clubs having previously beaten Fulham, Arsenal and Spurs.
  • Nearly all rundowns of terrible football kits feature Hull City's tiger-stripe shirt from 1992/3, with a completely random pattern which meant no two were the same. But the mockery didn't stop the shirt breaking the club's shirt sales records - and they sell for up to £100 each now on eBay.
  • Up to the early 1960s, when league games were often played on Christmas Day, Hull City and Grimsby Town were the only two teams exempt from playing because fans in the fishing industry needed to be at work.
  • Until that moment, Hull was the answer to perennial pub quiz question: “Which is the largest city with a Football League team never to have been represented in the top division of English football?” The answer now is Plymouth.
  • And finally... Hull City is the only team in the Football League which hasn't got a single letter that you can colour in.
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FA Cup: Heartbreak for Hull City in cup final

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