Aimee-Lou Caldecourt on National Volunteer Week 2025
“Volunteers are crucial at this level”, states media volunteer Aimee-Lou Caldecourt when asked to reflect on both her role and the involvement of other club volunteers this National Volunteer Week.
“As part of the media team we all work extremely well together to provide the fans with high-quality content every matchday. This isn’t just the media volunteers, but everyone at the club that I’ve spoken to have Dulwich running through their blood, they’re the absolute backbone of the club, and in non-league in general.”
Starting at the beginning of the season, Caldecourt has undertaken a number of match-day media roles since joining, contributing to the team of media volunteers who connect the fans to football every week.
One of the main streams for this is the commentary broadcast, with a team going live for both the men’s and women’s fixtures each week to bring those at home closer to the action.
“It's funny actually because if you had told Aimee-Lou from a year ago that she’d be anywhere near a microphone and commentating on football, I genuinely would have laughed. But it has actually been one of the most enjoyable parts of the season for me.”
Her dive into commentary also created one of her fondest memories of the season and one she will continue to look back on with pride.
“The women’s cup final game against Arsenal was a particularly proud moment. I was leading the commentary for the game and, although the result wasn’t what we wanted, the atmosphere was electric, with so many of the Pepper Army out on that Tuesday night in Uxbridge. It might be my favourite game of the season!”
Commentary, however, was far from the only measure in which Caldecourt’s voluntary experience has pushed her out of her comfort zone, with the entire experience being a platform for her to grow as a journalist while completing her second year at university.
“I’ve developed a lot of different skills this season. One personally for me is interviewing people. I struggled a lot with confidence and had really bad imposter syndrome, but since I had the chance to interview Ryan Dempsey and Lucy Monkman for a university assignment, I have become much more confident in the craft.”
When asked about her passion for sports media, Caldecourt acknowledged that it has not been an area that she was always interested in, but that her volunteer role at the club this season has certainly facilitated her enthusiasm.
“It wasn’t until I started applying for universities that I started looking into working in the football industry. Originally, I was looking at teaching courses! So I’m relatively new to all of this, but I have loved every second of it. My journey really started with supporting the growth of the women’s game and has grown to actively gaining experience, which Dulwich have supported this season.
Obviously, the club has a huge reputation in non-league and as soon as the opportunity presented itself to me, I thought it would be silly to let it pass. The club aligns with my personal values and I knew instantly it would be a perfect fit for me.”
Having now completed the campaign, Caldecourt has taken time to reflect on such an opportunity, and how the voluntary experience at the club has better prepared her for her future career.
“This season was my first full season in football and has taught me that football is unbelievably unpredictable. I love the unpredictable nature though, no two match days will ever look the same which really excites me.
“I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. I went in quite naive to begin with, but since seeing out this season I’ve learnt that anything can happen in this field of work, and just by getting myself out there in the community and volunteering at the club I’ve had so many other opportunities come my way which I never expected to happen.”
Looking ahead to another season at the club, Caldecourt said: “I really just can’t wait to get stuck in again, hopefully get to more away games, travel to new places. I also definitely want to talk to the fans a bit more next season about how much the club means to them, and just be more involved!”
Finally, Caldecourt commented on what she would miss the most if her time at the club was coming to an end.
“I’d miss absolutely everything! I’d miss working with so many amazing people every week because they are really what makes the whole experience so enjoyable and memorable for me. I absolutely love creating content for fans as well, and listening to all the positive feedback I get from them all genuinely makes my week.”
Interested in volunteering at Dulwich Hamlet FC? Email our community team with what you'd like to get involved in. Whether it's media work or helping us with ground maintenance we're always looking to add to the team. Email:
Dulwich Hamlet launch new Youth team
The club is delighted to announce its first independent venture into youth football for many years with the creation of an U18 side which we hope will recreate the pathway for home grown players into the men’s team that was such an important part of the club and which, if successful, will allow us to expand into younger years and introduce a youth system for the women’s game.
The club has been successful in its application to join the Kent Youth League where we have been allocated a place in the North Division, and we will also see the return of FA Youth Cup football.
The new team will be managed by Justin Stevens and assisted by Michael Ebo and they will bring an existing group of current under 16 players who are ready to move up the age groups, whilst also holding open trials to uncover new talent and re-connect the opportunity to play in pink and blue with the local area.
Justin had the following to say about joining the club:
"After many years in youth football, Michael Ebo and I are both excited to be given the opportunity to be part of Dulwich Hamlet FC. During our time in junior football, we have been fortunate to work with many incredibly talented players, some of whom have earned scholarships and pro contracts.
Our motivation for moving to be an early part of the club's reset is to give the players we already manage, and those we will recruit, an improved pathway to senior football with a club that is committed to providing opportunities for young players.
We look forward in continuing our football journey at Dulwich Hamlet, nurturing young, aspiring players and building towards the future of the club."
Over the past few years we have evaluated dozens of offers to transplant teams, license our name, become a feeder team or start a youth system from scratch and we have stuck to the principles we believe are crucial to delivering for the players as well as the club and Justin and Michael were the first people we went through the process with that understood what Dulwich Hamlet means and needs whilst staying true to what has already succeeded for them.
Dates and locations for trials are in the works for later this month and we look forward to announcing them and explaining how to apply to participate.
On behalf of the club
Ben Clasper, Chairman
CLUB UPDATE | 5/6/25
It’s been another busy week at the club with the stadium and training ground pitches under renovation and off the pitch I look forward to sharing more news in the coming days and weeks on new management and coaching appointments as well as the next round of information on player retentions and new signings.
Yesterday we received confirmation of the allocation of teams within the women’s football pyramid which we have been waiting for before officially launching our women’s team season tickets and I can confirm we will be one of 12 teams competing in the FA Women’s National League Division 1 South East again this season where we will be joined by promoted teams Luton Town and Fulham as well as MK Dons who were relegated from the division above. Billericay Town will not be joining us as originally expected having been granted a reprieve from relegation due to the impact of withdrawals.
So I am pleased to announce that the women’s team season tickets are officially on sale at early bird prices and can be purchased via the following link.
https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/SeasonTickets/SelectType?clubId=126
The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that the link has been live for a couple of weeks but we wanted to make sure there were no surprises in the league allocations before advertising their availability.
For those of you who would like a season ticket that covers both the men’s and women’s home league fixtures those tickets are still in their early bird window and available via this link.
https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/SeasonTickets/SelectType?clubId=123
I also want to explain the delay in releasing our pre-season plans for both teams as I know some of you have been trying to piece together the schedule from fixtures published by other clubs. This year we decided to go early and get a head start on a full pre-season for the men’s team plus preparing some of the women’s team fixtures while still leaving room for the incoming manager to factor in their own plans.
Unfortunately going early meant that two of our six fixtures were subsequently cancelled due to changes by our opponents in either their management or preparation plans and we are doing everything we can to firm up alternatives so we don’t advertise fixtures for our fans to plan around only to see you having to undo those plans.
We will publish a full calendar with placeholders for any dates with unconfirmed fixtures along with information on these season’s summer ticket pass to all home games by Wednesday next week at the latest.
Thank you for your patience and support and I look forward to seeing you in July.
On behalf of the club and the board.
Ben Clasper, Chairman
Beer Festival at Champion Hill
Dulwich Hamlet and South East London CAMRA present the 2024 Dulwich Beer Festival.
This event runs over three days from 22nd to 24th May 2024.
50 Real Ales, 25 Ciders and Perries, hot and cold food served.
Join us for three days for the finest beers, food and entertainment.
Opening Times: Midday to 10:30pm
Club Season Tickets On Sale: Early Bird Price Release
We are pleased to announce club season tickets will be available for sale from this morning, Friday May 23.
Our ‘early bird’ pricing is £186 for an adult ticket, £79 for a concession ticket and for our younger fans the ‘pay your age’ tickets will also be available for purchase.
The tickets include all men’s and women’s home league fixtures and as soon as the women’s league information is confirmed we will be releasing the ‘early bird’ tickets for women’s league fixtures only for those of you who prefer that option.
Thank you again on behalf of the club and I hope I get the opportunity to welcome you back to Champion Hill next season and that the upcoming news about our new management teams and playing squad shows what a bright future we have ahead of us.
If you are ready to renew then please use this link (please note this will only work from the date on which tickets are released)
https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/SeasonTickets/SelectType?clubId=123
The form for those of you who prefer to follow the offline manual path will also be available on our website as usual.
Ben Clasper, Chairman
