Grow oak trees. Well 'Rome wasn't built in a day', but the "12th Man" scheme is laying down roots. Read on...

It must have seemed a bit of a gamble to publicly launch the "Dulwich Hamlet 12th Man" campaign, with First Team manager Gavin Rose sharing the top table at the launch meeting in the boardroom, back in December.

But while there is a lot more money to be raised & fans to be signed up to ensure it's continuing success, Hamlet Pitchero caught up with it's frontmen, supporters Neil Cole & Shaun Dooley:

So where did the "12th Man" idea come from, and why the need? Surely the Club pays the wages?

"There's other clubs with similar schemes, but we sort of got the idea from Wealdstone supporters, who asked for donations from their followers to cover the wages of their main striker Richard Jolley, when they re-signed him. We know for a fact that our budget got cut in the summer, it was public knowledge. It's an opportunity for fans who want to and feel the need to contribute to help our Club. We've seen other club's supporters being very positive and using their fundraising to contribute to their success on the pitch, so we thought we'd give it a go at Champion Hill. But it's not about replicating any budget that might be cut, it's about looking at the cuurrent budget, and adding to it. That's what we're trying to do. The response we've had so far shows how many Hamlet fans care about the Club. People can see that their own money really is making a difference to Gavin."

It's been running since the start of December, and the scheme is already responsible for helping put Danny Carr under contract. Is this what you envisaged?

" Yes, we hoped it would result in an additional player to the squad, or securing a promising youngster to Champion Hill. And that's exactly what's happening. Gavin wouldn't be able to do this otherwise, as his hands are tied by the budget he has. Danny was a non contract player which meant he could have left the Club, and we'd get no transfer fee, and we knew higher level clubs were watching him. So Gavin worked with us to put him under contract, which makes him secure, & also shows him what faith the manager has in him."

How much money is being raised, and who is contributing? Surely it's the 'same old people' digging into their pockets?

"No, it's everyone, new fans, old fans, supporters of all ages. We've got around twenty people making donations directly by standing order now, & that's the most effective way for us, so we can estimate what is definately coming in, but the matchday bucket, well you can't really put a number on it, but on a Saturday it's fifty fans or more putting something in. At the last Saturday home game against Corinthian-Casuals we got around £150 in cash,which was a brilliantly generous effort."

In the latest 'Supporters Trust' newsletter they mentioned your scheme, saying to was being run by Supporters Trust members, as in you two. Is this a Trust led scheme then?

" No, the "12h Man" is totally independent, but you could say complements some of the work done by the Trust. We raise funds directly to go to boost the players budget, whereas the Trust raises money which they will help the Club, overall eventually. The beauty of the "12th Man" is that's it's a 'single issue' fundraiser, & we deal directly with Gavin Rose, so all the money we get doesn't get bogged down anywhere."

Could there not be a concern from fans that you might just have cash sitting in a bank account like the Trust, rather than spend it?

"The Danny Carr situation and the resulting press coverage, proves we are directly handing money over to Gavin, as we have always promised. And obviously we never set up this scheme for money to gather dust. Every penny we get given is there to contribute to Dulwich's drive for promotion."

Presumably, despite being totally independent, you have the blessing of the Club Committee?

"Yes..I told myself to do it! (jested Shaun, who sits on the Club Committee) but seriously, it was raised at Committee level and they gave their blessing for us to proceed. And to be fair to every single Committee member has been making contributions, some by standing orders, others by dropping money into the bucket."

Aside from the standing orders and the matchday bucket are there any other plans to boost the fund?

"Yes, we're considering other fundraisers for the scheme, and we're aiming to set up a "12th Man" committee with this in mind. If anyone is interested give your details to anyone at the bucket table & we'll get back to you. If you can't commit to that we'd still like to hear your ideas. We're looking at running a 'Player of the Year' function for the Club, in the bar, at the end of the season. Any proceeds from that we will put directly back into the fund."

Gavin Rose has been very supportive and praised the "12th Man" in the press & in website interviews, without any promting from you. How much does this mean?

"The first time he praised the "12th Man" it was like 'wow'! A real boost, it proved we were right to launch the scheme, as although we believed in it & knew all of our fans would get behind it, there's always a little doubt in the back of your head. It was really massive to read about backing Danny Carr in the 'Southwark News', it was a real incentive to continue pushing forward with the scheme. This has been all about helping Gavin, & it's great that he acknowledges that, we think he appreciates the effort of supporters backing him up in this way."

Have you had any large donations? You recently announced that you've gone over the thousand pound mark already, in funds raised.

"we received a wonderful donation from a fan who wanted to stay totally anonymous when giving us a large three figure cheque,which was extremely generous, and also extremely moving to receive. Others have been making smaller, large donations by putting bank notes into the bucket, rather than coins. But it's not the size of the donation that matters, but the fact that so many people help. All the donations merge, & one person's one pound coin is as valuable to them personally as another fan's ten pound note. It all adds up, and as a result of everybody chipping in with donations large & small, Gavin has just been able to sign Youth Teamer Abdul Mansaray on a contract, and there's simply no way he could have done that without the "12th Man" scheme."

And finally, I guess I know the answer to this last question...have you both been surprised by the generousity of our fans?

"Yes, massively! In the time we've been running it, to be honest we're still in it's infancy. But we wouldn't have launched it if we didn't have faith in our 'Dulwich Hamlet family'. Everyone has been so generous, but we can stil do a lot more for the team. Maybe some of you out there know of fans who have moved away, or can't get to games. Print off a standing order for them & ask them to 'Help The Hamlet' this way. Or maybe get some family or friends to sign up. Even if it's only a pound a week, or even a month. It all adds up, and the more we raise the stronger the team gets."