Football Committee Chairman Liam Hickey's view

Here was Liam's popular column from last Monday's programme, in case you never saw it on the day, when we hosted Tooting & Mitcham United

Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Champion Hill. I would like to welcome all our visitors from Tooting and Mitcham United and say how delighted I am that we have a “proper” derby back on the agenda. It seems the last few years we have been the “odd one out” and so had to go to various other places when everybody else had a local derby.
Well, the game against Billericay Town passed off well enough and we can now start to concentrate on what we do best and not worry about what other clubs are up to. Our way is most certainly the polar opposite of what they are doing and, I believe, is a much more stable model for growth. However, every club should do what it deems to be right for its local area, so if it works for others then good luck to them.

Whilst the result was disappointing, it rested on a couple of decisions that didn’t fall our way and, in fact, considering that we lost two vital players before half time I thought we acquitted ourselves really well. The league is most definitely a marathon and I will take no notice of the table until we are at least 10 games into the season.

The crowd last Saturday clearly demonstrates that we are still on an upward trajectory following the first four figure crowd for an opening league game that I can remember. Much of this is down to our great community team who just keep coming up with more new initiatives and manage to engage with so many people. All this done by unpaid volunteers giving up the most valuable resource we all have; namely time.

In terms of our community work then I am delighted that we have been able to partner with Shaw Trust in offering community tickets to today’s game. Shaw Trust believes that everyone has the right to inclusion and independence. It supports clients to turn this right into a reality through work and disability programmes. It also focuses on health, justice and all areas of activity that promote individual inclusion and independence. I believe that we, as a club, would say that is a vision that we are delighted to support.

We also work with local businesses to attract their clients to try out a game at The Hamlet. Today, I would like to welcome the customers of one of our advertisers, Waterintobeer. They are using today as part of their celebrations to mark their first birthday and have been supporters of this club since before they opened. Waterintobeer is a shop in Brockley that sells all things beer; bottles, cans, homebrew ingredients and equipment & books. If you haven’t paid them a visit then take a look at their advert in the programme and take advantage of their discount offer. They are also today’s match sponsor, so I would like to thank them for all their support so far.

Our new mascot scheme continues today and I am delighted to welcome Frank Adams & Ethan Perry, plus of course their families. There is no direct charge made for children to be a mascot, just buy a child’s replica shirt from the Mega Container, leave your details and your child could soon be running out with the team. We will also provide free entry for up to 4 people so nobody misses out on seeing their child be mascot. I hope that Frank, Ethan and their families have a great day.

Finally, another call for our fans to help raise revenue for the club, and, at the same time, help yourselves. If you have any businesses that you think would like to advertise or sponsor The Hamlet then just have a chat with me, Andy Greig or Tom Cullen either in the Boardroom or around the ground. We are happy to explore any lead and will pay you for any that turn into business for the club. We also have leaflets detailing our commercial offer which are available in the Boardroom, by emailing commercial@|dulwichhamletfc.co.uk or ringing 07967 212353.

Finally, thank you for your support and keeping backing the club in any way you can. Even if it’s a few pence in the 12th Man bucket or a 50/50 ticket, it is all put to good use and is greatly appreciated.

Liam
(Liam Hickey, Chair of the Football Committee)