What we had to say last night

This was the 'Community Column' from last night's programme at home to Thamesmead Town

Good evening, tonight we welcome Thamesmead Town for our opening game in the Alan Turvey Trophy…not a new competition, but the re-naming of the Isthmian League Cup, in recognition of the man many Hamlet fans will remember as being the guest of honour when we reached the final of this competition in 2013. Hopefully we can go ‘one better’ & have him present the cup now named after him to our team, rather than the runners-up medals.

Hopefully things will be much calmer for our guests this evening, following the shocking scenes when local right-wing thugs turned up at their recent home pre-season match with Clapton Football Club, & attacked the visiting fans, who-if you know your non-league football- have been a breath of fresh air in Essex footballing circles…now attracting crowds of several hundred down at Step Five in the essex Senior League, rather than a couple of dozen on a good day.

Thamesmead themselves have been trying to turn their club around in their local community, and have some really good modern facilities there nowadays, and I’m sure I speak for many when I hope the good work they have done to try to boost their standing in their part of south-east London hasn’t been unravelled by these nasty outsiders who turned up with the sole intention of ambushing Clapton fans simply because they proudly have a political identity of being anti-fascist & anti-homophobic.

There has been much written about the similarities between Clapton & Dulwich Hamlet supporters…in my personal opinion, a somewhat lazy comparison. The Clapton fans, who go under the ‘Clapton Ultras’ banner, are totally & proudly political, whereas here at Champion Hill we are, for lack of a more ‘pseudo-intellectual’ way of describing it, are also active on the anti-discrimination fronts, but with a fanbase who prefers to get behind their team at matches, while simultaneously backing any initiatives organised by both the Football Club Committee and our Supporters Trust.

We at Dulwich Hamlet don’t see ourselves as the political ‘monster’ we’re portrayed as, but more of a Club that simply does what’s right. And by doing ‘what is right’ we mean something that will make people think and attempt real change, rather than just a ‘token gesture’ of a notice in a matchday programme or an advertising banner proclaiming something that is not acted on.

We certainly don’t feel we’re doing anything ‘special’ or ‘innovative’ though we are quietly proud, if truth be told, when others clubs think we are. And, whisper it gently, we are not as ‘original’ as you think. Take our Foodbank match last season, where we worked with the Pecan Foodbanks from across Southwark, & based locally in Peckham, when our fans not only donated lots of food & other non-perishable goods, but also donated lots of change into their collection buckets. This was an idea we ‘unashamedly stole’, make that ‘copied’, from the aforementioned Clapton Ultras…who had done the same at one of their previous matches!

And when it comes to further ‘ideas’ we are ALWAYS open to anything you have in mind to promote Dulwich Hamlet, & work with our local community. The Dulwich Hamlet Football Committee are happy to take on board anything we haven’t thought of yet, and are extremely lucky to have such an independent & active Supporters Trust who are only too keen to work alongside & promote any of our many initiatives.

And don’t forget to keep an eye on the official Dulwich Hamlet website at www.dulwichhamletfc.london for all of the news that comes from Champion Hill…it’s run by a hard-working team of volunteers in their spare time, led by the webmaster Paul Griffin…and is updates most days.

Thank you to you all for turning up tonight, the ‘loyal hardcore’ of fans…looking forward to seeing you again on Saturday, against Staines Town.

Mishi D. Morath
(Community Initiatives, Football Committee)