More from the papers---off the pitch

The Dulwich Hamlet Football Club Committee & Website team have been pro-active in responding to attacks on our Club, which has been taken up by fans

And this has resulted in some good positive coverage in the weekly 'Southwark News'.

Following the superb humanitarian efforts led by our fans in collecting for the Calais crisis last month, there was an extremely negative letter in the 'Southwark News', purporting to be from one local resident.

Fortunately, two responses were printed sent by individual members of our Football Committee, and you can read these now:

What an interesting slant on Dulwich Hamlet FC by David Arklane, (turn Dulwich Hamlet's ground into housing for refugees? Letters, September 24th).
I can categorically assure him that the club remains very much a football club and, unlike many other non League clubs, a growing one thanks to the efforts of its Players, Management, Committee, Supporters' Trust and fans in general.
It is a community football club and so will have a conscience and, like many businesses (yes it is one(, tries to respond to what its customers (fans) want. Those customers asked for permission to collect items for refugees, as they have done for local food banks, to support local charities, make students in the area feel welcome and support anti racism and anti homophobia initiatives.
The wider community responded to that request, as other people did across the borough, and a lot of items were collected to aid a humanitarian cause.
These items will be taken to people in Calais to help alleviate their hardship.
I'm not quite sure how this equates to welcoming refugees to England, Southwark, Dulwich or anywhere else. Our fans will not be going to Calais to bring some back to the country or giving out free tickets to attend a game (as we do with lots of groups in southwark), merely to deliver items that the community felt that they wanted to donate.
Finally, one good thing about Mr. Arklane's letter is that at least he didn't mention the word hipsters!
Liam Hickey, Commercial Department, Dulwich Hamlet FC.

This was followed by:

David Arklane couldn’t have been further from the truth when he stated that “Dulwich Hamlet FC’s primary objective seems to have changed from being a football club to being a community conscience”
In fact the primary aim is to be a successful as possible on the pitch as the team push for promotion to the National League South. But this aim goes hand in hand in reaching out on a vast swathe of community issues, the Calais humanitarian collection which he refers to, being just one of many. It was clearly a cause supported by our fans, and locals in general, with a huge amount collected & sorted by our Supporters Trust, with the Club being rewarded with the largest Ryman League gate of the season at any club of over 1,500 fans that day.
As can be seen by another news story your same issue, which highlights our ‘Pay What You Like’ fundraising match for our Ryman League game against VCD Athletic on Sunday 3rd October, for local mental health organisation Cooltan Arts & the British Heart Foundation, the Calais initiative was just one of many we carry out. As well as promotion another primary objective is being a Club where we reach out and help others, and that has been endorsed by our average home league crowd rocketing from 180 to over a thousand in the last six seasons.
With regard to redeveloping our ground…actually this is EXACTLY what Dulwich Hamlet Football Club, through our owners Hadley Property, ARE proposing. The aim being to have housing built on our current stadium, with a modern, sustainable venue for the whole community being built in tandem next door.. A development that will ensure that the Club is well-run & sustainable for many years to come, rather than the uncertainly of the last couple of decades.
I’m not sure if Mr. Arklane is a regular at Champion Hill, a lapsed fan, or neither. But if we wishes to contact me at the Club then I shall be more than happy to furnish him with some complimentary tickets for a forthcoming home match so he can see for himself what the primary aim of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is.
Mishi D. Morath, Dulwich Hamlet Football Committee, Community Initiatives Officer.

And in this weeks copy of the 'Southwark News' there was a piece in the main pages about our fans' anger at the local Liberal Democrats using our Club for their own electioneering needs at last weekend's match against VCD Athletic, when all of the talk should have been about our charity fundraising:

A candidate for next week's council by-election has been accused of "scoring an own goal" after campaigning against the proposed redevelopment of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club's stadium.
Ben Maitland, the Lib Dem candidate for South Camberwell, handed out lefaflets outside the club's Champion Hill ground before last week's game against VCD Athletic.
The leaflet stated: "Like many supporters of Dulwich Hamlet FC, Ben is concerned about plans to build on its pitch and move it to a smaller alternative nearby."
It also outlined worries about building luxury, rather than affordable, flats on the old site and the loss of green space involved in moving the pitch to a new location.
However, in an official response, the club accused Mr. Maitland of "scaremongering an inaccuracy'".
The statement titled "Don't Believe All You Read...", said: "We believe that the vast majority of our fans who care for the future of our club will support the development, and this will be shown once the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters Trust poll its members on supporting the proposals. The new stadium will actually see an increased capacity and will be a development that will result in a much larger community use all round the clock for our area, not just for Dulwich Hamlet. The flyer also expresses concerns about the loss of green space, but the new stadium will be built around the current footprint of the ageing all-weather floodlit surface currently behind our home."
Fans on social media said the decision to hand out leaflets arguing against the move was "idiotic", "mind-blowingly short-sighted" and an "abuse of football and fans as [a] vehicle for political gain."
One person commented on Twitter: "Ben Maitland scored an own-goal (excuse the pun) with poorly researched and embarrassing leaflets, Wasted exercise and Saturday."
Mr. Maitland told the News that he felt the leaflet had been misinterpreted.
He said: "I am determined to help secure Dulwich Hamlet's long term future at Champion Hill. The club is a vital part of our community and does a huge amount of work with young people in this area. We clearly need to increase the amount of social housing across Southwark, but building luxury flats over our football ground will not help provide the affordable homes we need."
A spokesman for Hadley Property Group, who stepped in to buy the club and save it from administration last year, said: "Hadley Property Group's proposals will guarantee the long-term future of Dulwich Hamlet FC, and enhance and maintain Green Dale. The scheme will establish much needed community sport and leisure facilities within the heart of East Dulwich, including partnerships with schools, football academies and disadvantaged social groups. Hadley Property Group had been engaging closely with the local community throughout this process and would be happy to meet with the candidates to fully brief them on the proposals."