Presenting our 24/25 kits
When so many football kits feature patterns without much meaning it would be Dulwich Hamlet who create a kit inspired by a fan favourite chant.
If you’ve been anywhere near a Dulwich Hamlet match in the last 18 months you’ve heard the ‘Hills' chant. But to call it a chant is a disservice, it’s more an anthem, loosely based on the The Beastie Boys song ‘Girls’.
(Worth noting that Hamlet version of the song has had all the misogyny of the original removed).
Practically speaking, it’s two verses with a basic chorus in between.A leader in the Rabble/Pepper Army starts by calling out long, slow and found, ‘Hiiilllllssssss”. Verse one goes, this is an example…
We’ve got Herne Hill
We’ve got Tulse Hill
We’ve got Denmark Hill
We’ve got Forest Hill
Chorus be like…
Hills, hills, hills, hills, Hills, hills, hills, hills, Hills, hills, hills, hills,
We’ve got Telegraph Hill
We’ve got Beulah Hill
We’ve got Brixton Hill
We’ve got Champion Hill
The hills are interchangeable, the leader sings whatever hills they like so long as the hills are in central or south east London. The song always finishes on ‘Champion Hill’, the Hamlet’s stadium in East Dulwich.
There have been, so far as we can make out, thirteen hills mentioned, including the non-existent 'Peckham Hill’ shouted by an enthusiastic but geographically challenged player after a match.
So why the long explanation? Well, this year’s Dulwich Hamlet kit features all Hills of the chant ‘Hills' in a Isohypsical (contour) map created using the same data the Ordinance Survey use to create their maps. It’s a football shirt / geographic educational device / a method for finding your way home after a match.
The cuffs the sleeves each list four hills, with the final one being Champion, and the hills listed on the different kits (Home, Away, Goalie 1-3) are all different from each other, just like the chant.
And in case you find yourself lost and needing to locate the Champion Hill Stadium, the Latitude and Longitude of the centre spot of the pitch is on the back of the shirt under the players’ number.
The shirt is probably the first football kit to feature a Crown Copyright message "CONTAINS PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION LICENSED UNDER THE OPEN GOVERNMENT LICENCE V3.0.” It’s a bit dull but hey, copyright is what it is.
Colour-wise, home is Hamlet's traditional Pink and Blue with away being the Red, White and Black of DHFC’s ‘twin' Hamburg club Altona93. Goalie kits come in Green and Pink (the watermelon), baby pink and baby blue.
The kits also feature sponsors Defected Records, Rising Edge, Octopus Energy and Go Up
The kit concept and design was devised by Paul Hamilton, DHST board member, designer of the 21/22 kits, and the fixtures posters as well as lots of the merch. Check Paul out at seeyes.co.uk
