WITH TWO MONTHS OF THE 1921/22 SEASON LEFT, HAMLET REMAINED IN CONTENTION FOR MULTIPLE TROPHIES... 

The end of the 1921/22 season proved to be something of a disaster for Dulwich Hamlet. On March 11th they met holders Bishop Auckland in the FA Amateur Cup semi-final.

Many of the Hamlet side had been playing when Dulwich had comfortably defeated the ‘Two Blues’ 5-1 in the Third Round en route to winning the competition themselves back in 1920. Thus, Dulwich approached the match at Fulham’s Craven Cottage with confidence.

The clash drew over 22,000 spectators and generated £1,371 in revenue. Hamlet enjoyed the better of the contest but it ended in a 1-1 draw - star forward Edgar Kail securing a replay with a deserved 85th minute equaliser, opportunistically finishing after Benny Potts in Auckland’s goal dropped a cross.

The press agreed that Dulwich had been the better side, some even reporting that they should have won with something to spare. Of the match receipts approximately £370 went in entertainment tax, Fulham took 10%, the players claimed railway travel (third class only) with the remainder split between the Football Association and the competing clubs.

Hamlet made the long journey north to Darlington for the replay, hoping to banish the memory of a 2-1 1909 semi-final exit there against Eston United - a team of ironstone miners. A North London final at White Hart Lane was the prize. But despite only having nine men on the pitch by the time that the final whistle blew, Bishop Auckland won comfortably by three clear goals.

Dulwich were missing goalkeeper and captain Bert Coleman who had been injured in the game at Fulham. Reserve Claude Longhurst replaced him and whilst some reports stated that he played well, others blamed him for two of the goals that the south Londoners conceded.

Hamlet erred in attempting to play football on a poor pitch, whilst the 'Two Blues' adopted a more rudimentary long ball approach. A crowd of 10,000 saw Bishop Auckland take an early lead when Bobby Burrows 'netted the ball at close quarters'. A disputed penalty, awarded against Evans, was then tucked away by Auckland's left-back Jack Taylor to make it 2-0.

He 'gave Longhurst no chance with a lightning ground shot'. The game now became faster and more exciting with the 'Two Blues' reduced to ten men when outsideleft Stephen Freak was forced to depart through injury. Just before half-time, Hamlet’s hopes of a comeback faded when Sid Nicol saw his penalty splendidly saved by Potts.

Midway through a strenuously fought second-half Burrows took a pass from Syd Binks and scored his second to extend Auckland’s lead further. The holders four-man front line continued to maintain an aggressive approach tactically whilst Dulwich worked hard to break through - wingers Hunt and Gooch were both excellent and inside forward Bill Davis was more active centrally - but their efforts were spoiled by bad shooting.

Gooch and Kail saw fine shots skim the bar whilst Potts steered another strong shot over the bar for a corner. In a vigorous contest, several Hamlet players were walking wounded come the final whistle with Davis receiving some particularly brutal treatment. With fifteen minutes to go he was hacked down by Tommy Maddison who was sent off for the challenge. But the three goal deficit proved insurmountable and Dulwich were out.

Bishop Auckland went on to meet fellow Northern League side South Bank in the Final. A crowd of 22,500 saw them retain the trophy on April Fool's Day at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park. Billy Cook gave Bishop's an early lead, but a brace from Eddie Peacock looked set to see the Teesiders win the Cup. That was until George Mullen equalised with just four minutes left.

In a thrilling finale, there was still time for South Bank to win it, but Jack Thompson saw his last minute penalty agonisingly saved by Potts. In extra-time, the ‘Bankers’ fell apart. It was one way traffic and two goals from Binks and another from Teddy Nattrass made the final score 5-2 and sealed a fifth Amateur Cup Back in London, March had ended with a weak Hamlet side putting in their worst display for a long time against Metrogas in the Surrey Senior Cup semi-final.

With Longhurst still deputising in goal, they crashed out 3-0 at Nunhead’s Brown’s Ground. The London Charity Cup semi-final at home to Barking on April 29th was also lost - this time Dulwich were edged out 4-3. One newspaper headlined its match report ‘London Riot’ and reading between the lines, it appears that some Hamlet fans attacked Barking fans as they exited the ground with six injured and one hospitalised.

Curiously Barking denied there had been any problems whilst we have yet to discover a similar Hamlet denial from scouring contemporary accounts. Given ‘Pa’ Wilson’s propensity to write to the press if he felt that Dulwich Hamlet had been disparaged in some way, the apparent silence seems to speak volumes.

To compound matters, Hamlet then blew an Isthmian League championship that had appeared to be theirs to lose. Needing six points from a winnable last four matches, they missed out. On the final day of the season, Hamlet lost 5-0 at mid-table Oxford City whilst eventual champions Ilford jumped above them by two points after defeating what was effectively a second-string Wycombe Wanderers XI 9-1.

With thanks to Roger Deason and the Dulwich Hamlet FC History Group