Dulwich Hamlet

[grockle]

Our next league match is at Dulwich, I understand they are hoping to play at Champion Hill. Can anyone confirm this will be the venue, and not where they are currently playing, at Imperial Fields Mitcham?

[standupsitdown]

They announced a few weeks ago that they are moving back but I haven't heard a firm date. This is all their website says.

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichha ... 60561.html

Our own club should be able to tell us?

I'm hoping ours isn't the first game back at their home ground as that's likely to give them a boost and make the match harder to win.

Either way it should be a good day as they get good support and we should take a good number.

[merse btpir]

What Hamlet hope for and what they get might well be quite different things...
They had to rip up the old pitch and grow a new one; that is almost ipossible to do in the timescale before December 1st during the winter
There is a degree of decay and neglect in the ground that needed addressing such as electrics, plumbing and cleaning
The ground is piss poor at the best of tmes in comparison to Imperial Fields ~ particularly for the fact that at Tooting they have raised and partly covered terraces behnd both goals as opposed to a one step set up all around Champion Hill and Imperial Fields has a hundred more seats than Champion Hill

Apart from it's location 8 miles from Dulwich; Imperial Fields is a much better ground and just as easily accessible by public transport ~ Mitcham on the Croydon Tramlink as long as the fecking driver doesn't go round the bends too fast!

If the game were to be at Champion Hill I can foresee a crowd in excess of two and a half thousand; if at Imperial Fields...well they only got just over three hundred last Saturday and enthusiasm for trekking down there is waning amongst their fringe fans accustomed as they are to football in their Yuppie backyard.

I'm very familiar with Hamlet and always enjoy going to watch them; the only annoying aspect are the amount of ruddy hipster types who have attacehd themselves to them; them and their ruddy wives and kids! It seems there are a degree of them who aren;'t allowed to go to matches unless they drag them along hence the attendeances at evening games are much lower but with a much better, more normal sort of crowd.

Personally I hope they do not impose their 'homecoming' on our sizeable and significant support who deserve better than to be used as guinea pigs ~ better they wait until they get a less well supported away travelling contingent to cope with.
Read a more detailed appraisal here:
http://thelondonlabia.proboards.com/thr ... ll?page=85

[United62]

I'm very familiar with Hamlet and always enjoy going to watch them; the only annoying aspect are the amount of ruddy hipster types who have attacehd themselves to them; them and their ruddy wives and kids! It seems there are a degree of them who aren;'t allowed to go to matches unless they drag them along hence the attendeances at evening games are much lower but with a much better, more normal sort of crowd.

Have been to Champion Hill on several occasions too. Not the best of grounds if you get there late and are lacking either an orange box or some very large stilts or are fortunate enough to be over 7ft tall to see past the top hats and mohicans (I kid you not!).

The ground itself is open to the elements behind both goals and the only 'cover' is a small covered terrace opposite the main seating area... so, if it's raining, bring a brollie - which will then piss off the latecomers (unless they've brought an orange box, large stilts are are fortunate enough to be over 7ft tall).... and if you want an over-priced 'artisan' buffalo/venison burger be prepared to queue and don't expect much change from a fiver.

Parking at the ground (when I've been) has been pretty simple as it's right next to a large Sainsburys. However, that was when Hamlet frequented the Isthmian league and away support was at a minimum, so regardless of when we play them we are bound to bring more than they are used to (even at this level) so, either get there VERY early or be prepared for a lengthy search for the virtually non-existent street parking option.

[merse btpir]

Yes get there early by public transport (East Dulwich Station is adjacent) take in a takeaway from the excellent chippy or Dominos Pizza outside grab a pint from the clubhouse and then bag a seat, and stay in it at all cost thus pissing off the late arriving hipsters with their kids in papooses, rocking horses and colouring books...God they get on my tits!

[torregull]

The colouring books could be utilised by our spotty yoof squad should they travel to this one-bit of mindfulness for the mindless!

[Louis]

This topic is causing some attention on Twitter regarding wives and children...

https://x.com/torquay_fans/status/10648 ... 24032?s=21

(Click the tweet to expand and see the replies).

[dennisk]

Well we need to have a definitive answer to the question..."Where is the match going to be played?" Dulwich or Tooting. LOL

[merse btpir]

This topic is causing some attention on Twitter regarding wives and children...

They absolutely do NOT go to watch the game that is the whole point of what I posted.

Anyone who carts a rocking horse/colouring books along; a dog or children so young they don't know a football from a carrot is not a proper football fan. Go down there on a cold and rainy Tuesday night and they're conspicuous by their absence. When my kids go to football they go and watch football or at least revel in the environemnt of it all. They don't need to be entertained by clowns, jugglers and **** balloons.

[Dazza]

Good stuff Merse- I like it ! Football is not for hippies it's for real people.

[Southampton Gull]

This topic is causing some attention on Twitter regarding wives and children...

https://x.com/torquay_fans/status/10648 ... 24032?s=21

(Click the tweet to expand and see the replies).

I hope they don't tar us all with the same brush as the illustrious Mr Merson. Quite a thread for him, linking his own forum into the post as well as offending the Dulwich fans to boot. All this as a guest of our own forum which he kindly labels the Kiddie's site. Quite ironic really.

[wivelgull]

Class war breaks out on the Torquay fans website.

[PhilGull]

Heaven forbid people should pay to go and watch grassroots football! If only Torquay had more people like Merse describes turning up on a Saturday afternoon, we my have avoided some of the financial issues that got us to where we are now!

[tomogull]

I hope they don't tar us all with the same brush as the illustrious Mr Merson. Quite a thread for him, linking his own forum into the post as well as offending the Dulwich fans to boot. All this as a guest of our own forum which he kindly labels the Kiddie's site. Quite ironic really.

I totally agree. I think most Forum users are fair minded and will distance themselves from Merse's bile which surely is a strong contender for the most pointless and ridiculous posting of the year. Mums and Dads take their children to a football match with colouring books etc. So what? How can they be described as (quote) "not being proper fans?" If they weren't proper fans - dads AND mums - they'd find something else to do with the children on a Saturday afternoon. When those children get older, the colouring books will be left at home and they will become "proper fans" of the club. It sounds as if Dulwich is a family orientated club which surely is good for the game.

Last season, Merse was extolling the virtues of Boreham Wood as a family orientated club. It's interesting that the gates at Dulwich compare quite favourably with the pathetic crowds (if you can call it a crowd) at Boreham in a league above. They gained promotion to National South last season and are doing okay, so let's give the club and their fans some respect instead of deriding them.

So they allow rocking horses to be brought into the ground. Maybe if he asks nicely, they will allow the miserable old goat to bring in his rocking chair.

[grockle]

All I wanted to know was where the match is being played!!