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If you didn't see the column in the Bognor programme at the weekend then you can catch up here...

Good afternoon everyone,
This afternoon it’s a pleasure to welcome the Rocks from Bognor Regis Town, not just because they are our opponents today, but also because when I speak to people about well-run non-league clubs, they are always one who I hold up as a shining example.

It’s also a warm welcome to any new fans this afternoon from the local student fraternity of South-east London. Today marks our first ever ‘Student Day’. Many of you will be aware that as a Club we are proud to have the most far-ranging and cheapest concessions in the Ryman League Premier Division, at just four pounds a game, instead of our full adult price of a tenner. Why? Well not only are we extremely conscious of the fact that some of our fans may not have enough money to get to games regularly, if we charged higher reduced rates, like some other sides at our level, we know that some would not attend as many matches as a result. We feel it is a duty not just to our regulars, but to the local community, to try to offer as many as possible the chance to ‘escape’ to Champion Hill on match day. It’s not easy to cope if you are unemployed, watching every penny, and for the sake of ‘mental well being’ the opportunity to ‘switch off’ &
be yourself, having fun with your mates behind the goal, you cannot really put a price on. The same, in a way, applies to students. Snowed under with the pressures of studying. Perhaps brand new to London, a very strange environment in a big city, with no real friends. Dulwich Hamlet can break down those barriers. And hopefully this is what we are trying to achieve. From a ‘long term mercenary’ point of view, if that’s the right word, we’re also hoping that fans who discover The Hamlet through our various concessions & free offers such as today, become fans and return again and again. To use a ‘quasi-business terminology’ which I wouldn’t know how to speak even if I were a business person, I believe that we have the ‘product’ & if you ‘sample’ it…you will come back!

Some clubs don’t even offer concessions to pensioners, we are proud to keep our admission low for all fans in the ‘over 60’ category. There is a school of thought that asks why older supporters should have a cheap rate, when some of them have savings in the bank & can afford the full admission price. Well I would counter that by saying it’s like sort of loyalty card thing…it’s football’s way of saying ‘thank you’ for many years of loyal backing, in good times and bad. And for the majority it’s inevitable there will be more ‘bad’ moments than ‘good’! Your old age concession has been earned by your loyalty down the decades previous…no more, no less!

This afternoon you will also see a brand new pitchside advertising hoarding. It sends an extremely important anti-homophobia message from Dulwich Hamlet Football Club…which tells the footballing world that we are a Club that does not accept any form of discrimination at our club, a stance that is fully supported and endorsed by the Football Association. The design you will see is based on an iconic German anti-homophobia banner, which was first displayed by fans of Tennis Borussia Berlin, and their one has been displayed at both top flight and non-league matches, to huge acclaim, all over Europe. Our initiative has been led by the DULWICH HAMLET SUPPORTERS TRUST, who applied to the FARE Network for a small grant to cover the costs of producing it, alongside some badges carrying the same message. The FARE Network is an umbrella organisation that brings together everyone driven to combat inequality in football and to send out a unified message against
discrimination. A perfect message for Dulwich Hamlet Football Club to send out, especially with many black players in our side, and our club colours, which, sadly in this day & age, still leave our Club wide open to small pockets of racial and homophobic abuse. So the Club are pleased & proud to support the work of the FARE NETWORK, just as we were honoured to be Kick It Out ambassadors recently on Non-League Day; as well as being involved with the Rainbow Laces initiative, through the hard work done by our Supporters Trust, with our backing as a Football Club as a whole. You can find out more about FARE at their website: www.farenet.org

Some may say we shouldn’t be getting ‘political’, & I certainly don’t believe we are overtly political, but these issues are basic ones of the difference between right & wrong, messages that are fully supported by all of the footballing authorities, whether that be the national Football Association, local County ones or individual leagues themselves. We as a Club would be betraying our loyal fans if we did not spread the word and support them actively too, rather than simply playing ‘lip service’. Without a doubt the football will ALWAYS be the most important thing, but it must be football in the right environment for all.

We look forward to seeing you all here again, in the Robert Dyas League Cup against Walton & Hersham, on Tuesday night.