To contact the editors, you can email Andy or Les.
For technical queries regarding the site, email Steve.
Hull City fanzine Amber Nectar began life as a hardcopy publication back in 1998, the work of Tigers supporters Les Motherby and Andy Dalton.
The pair decided to create a fanzine after the end of Tiger Rag (1994-97) and its predecessors Hull, Hell and Happiness (1988-92), On Cloud Seven (1990-92), From Hull To Eternity (1990-92), Last Train To Boothferry Halt (1993) and Look Back In Amber (1992-94).
Described as ‘an uncensored forum for the Tiger Nation’, the somewhat amateurish first issue was released on February 21st 1998. A month later came the first web incarnation, a crudely-designed site hosted by the free webspace provider Angelfire.
The paper fanzine was produced until February 2003 when the decision was taken to focus on the Internet site, which since late 1999 occupied the domain www.ambernectar.com. Difficulties with the web host forced a move to a new domain, www.ambernectar.org in July 2006.
The welcome screen at www.ambernectar.com 1999-2006
Both Motherby and Dalton have represented Amber Nectar in the media, appearing on television (BBC Look North, ITV’s Soccer Night, Sky News and Sky Sports), on radio (BBC Radio Humberside, BBC Radio Five Live, Viking FM, Yorkshire Radio and KCFM) and in print (The Independent, The Guardian, Yorkshire Post and Total Football magazine) to give opinions on Hull City affairs.
Amber Nectar’s editors were inaugural members of the Fans Liaison Committee, a sort of fans parliament set up by chairman Adam Pearson in 2002. Each month committee members brought supporter issues to the club’s attention, in the 6 years that the FLC operated, Amber Nectar and its readers were influential in shaping Hull City’s policies on ticketing, merchandising, stewarding and catering until the FLC was disbanded by Pearson’s successor Paul Duffen.
The fanzine has sponsored the playing kits of several players including Mike Edwards, Neil Mann and most recently Michael Turner.
Did you know?
- The idea to delay the Bolton League Cup game in 1998 by pelting tennis balls on the pitch as a way of protesting David Lloyd’s ownership of the club was suggested by an Amber Nectar editor.
- The term Tiger Nation, a collective noun for City supporters, has entered common parlance and is frequently used by local media, the OSC and was memorably used by Chairman Paul Duffen in the wake of promotion to the Premier League. The term first appeared on the cover issue 1 of Amber Nectar in 1998 as part of the tagline ‘an uncensored forum for the Tiger Nation’.
- When the editors were given a sneak preview of the 2005-2006 home shirt, they opined that it had too much white under the arms, so the kit was redesigned with a far smaller white underarm panel.
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