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Catching up on Community &Commercial

Catching up on Community &Commercial

Mishi Morath18 Sep 2014 - 17:03
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Here are the programme notes from our last two home games,which we haven't had a chance to share on here yet...

Here's what we had to say almost two weeks ago, at home to Hampton & Richmond Borough-
Does anyone remember the old phrase “Don’t do drugs”? Well all I can say is ‘who on earth needs them anyway’, after the amazing victory over Tuesday night against Margate!

Today we’re pleased to welcome as our Match Sponsor one of our ‘celebrity’ fans, if he doesn’t mind being called that, Bob ‘The Cat’ Bevan. Although not able to get to Champion Hill as often as he might like, he was handed the Isthmian League Division One South championship trophy to present back on that glorious end of season day at home to Burgess Hill Town, at the end of April 2013, after the Isthmian League had no available representatives. So you could say, that by ‘having done the honours’ he is now ‘paying for the privilege’! Thank you for your continued support, Bob.

What a superb attendance too. Over eight hundred fans pouring into Champion Hill for a midweek match. We hope most of you, and many more, are here this afternoon, thank you for buying this programme, as we know that you will also have ‘dug deep’ and will continue to do so, throughout the day, by contributing to our charity buckets that will be around the ground.
As you will have read elsewhere, all over the internet, and the local press, today is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work behind the scenes, to make our ‘Non League Day’ a great success, in promoting Dulwich Hamlet. If you are a first time visitor, reading this programme, we hope you enjoy the match…and return!

Champion Hill should be even more colourful than usual this afternoon, as we have encouraged our fans to bring flags, banners, instruments, balloons…whatever as possible to make it a real carnival atmosphere, as we also work hand in hand with the ‘Kick It Out’ anti-racism and discrimination campaign as one of their four chosen ambassador games up and down the country, we are honoured to be working with them. We hope their enjoy their visit here as we support their ‘Season of Action’.
Also present, we are proud to have in attendance His Worshipful the Mayor of Southwark, Cllr. Sunil Chopra; whose charities we are supporting this afternoon, with part of the proceeds from your donations at the gate going to his charity fund, where he is supporting two organisations that work with the homeless, namely The Robe Project & UK Homes 4 Heroes, during his term of office.

Our players are also doing so, with some of the First Team squad & management taking part in a post-match ‘Dulwich Hamlet Ice Bucket’ challenge, and the money they raise will be split between the Mayor’s Fund, and their chosen charity, The ALS Association. Collectors will be going round the ground to collect for this, during the second half, & the fun will commence at a quarter past five, on the pitch. So stay for a pint or two in the club bar, then come back outside to watch the drenching!

Before the game today you will see the teams led out by youngsters from our Dulwich Hamlet Football in the Community Scheme, and they will also be on the pitch during the half-time interval to show off their football skills. The scheme is run by our former Captain, Peter Adeniyi, and he does great work with youngsters in the local community, and they are always on the lookout for outside funding to continue and expand their work. If you can help please take a peek at their website, www.dhfitc.org.uk , to see Exactly what they do, or to check what fun your kids can have with them.

At home games this season we have been running what is proving to be a very successful 50/50 draw, at a pound a ticket, where the winner goes home with half of the money collected. We were planning to ‘give it a miss’ today, so that we could concentrate on the charity collections, but have decided to run it after all, with the half of the proceeds that would go back to the Football Club, being donated to the players Ice Bucket challenge. So there’s an even bigger incentive for you to buy a ticket…

On that note I’d just like to sign off for today by thanking you all for your generousity, whether a regular, or a first time visitor. We hope to see you all back here in two weeks time, when we host Worthing, in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup…Let that ‘Cup Run Dream’ commence…

This was followed by our notes last Saturday, at home to Worthing:

Well today’s the day that most Dulwich Hamlet fans can start dreaming of that mythical FA Cup run…but to be honest what can top that dream-of-a-weekend (result apart!) of last Saturday, against Hampton & Richmond Borough, on Non League Day. The simple word ‘success’ doesn’t do the game justice, neither does a mere ‘thank you’ to everyone involved in arranging, building up & supporting the day.

Hopefully a number of people who came along on the day will have returned this afternoon, as we play host to our good friends from the South Coast, Worthing. Taking off my ‘committee hat’, as I’m want to do, not just when I travel on unofficial supporters coaches, it’s a pleasure to host them, and I look forward to playing them in league matches in the not too distant future. They are a friendly club, with a great set of fans, who always make our lot welcome, when we go down there to take part in their Supporters 6-a-side competitions, at the end of the last few seasons. To name but two, the likes of Nick Courtnadge & Roger Johnson, are unsung heroes of non-league football, their enthusiasm being the heartbeat of clubs at our level up and down the country. Hopefully we will all have enjoyed this morning’s game between our two sets of fans down at Belair Park this morning, I’m sure there will be a few weary legs being rested in our clubhouse
before today’s ‘big boys’ game!

Ah yes, today’s match…you will see that the players boots look slightly different today…as you cannot have failed to miss in the national press, in particular the free morning paper the Metro, today is an action day for a ‘Rainbow Laces’ initiative. It’s part of a national campaign against homophobia in football, and we are proud as a Football Club, to be the first Non-League sides to highlight this. Today’s initiative would not have been possible without the lead being taken by the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters Trust, and all at Dulwich Hamlet Football Club are more than happy to work alongside them. If you are not quite sure why there needs to be a campaign against homophobia then you could do a lot worse than educate yourself by checking out this internet link when you get home tonight: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/what_we_do/9258.asp
As always, with this being an FA match, whether Cup or Trophy, we are extremely grateful to one of our lifelong fans Norman Pocock, for sponsoring the match, in the name of his company, HR Jennings for Insurance, whose advertisement you can see elsewhere in this programme, as well as his pitch perimeter board in the ground.

We also have a Match Ball sponsor, an anonymous well-wisher, who is ‘hiding’ behind the ‘tagline’ : “Fred Pudney’s 40 seconds”. Obscure indeed, it refers to one of our players from the Jimmy Rose era, of the mid-Seventies. Fred once came on a substitute, against Southall & Ealing Borough, I believe from memory…and he received his marching orders only 42 seconds after entering the field of play! I bet, wherever he is now, he could never have imagined he would be ‘immortalised’ in a Hamlet programme almost four decades later! I’ve heard he’s now a London cab driver out there somewhere...so if you see him, let him know!

We welcome more match sponsors, the whole package is only £99 for the game of your choice, & includes FOUR VIP boardroom guest passes, before & after tha match, seats in the directors box; tannoy announcements to suit your need, and a mention in every remaining home programme, including the match you sponsor. A Match Ball package is similar, but for two people, and only costs £30, which would suit the pocket of most fans, or companies, whether you go for the Match deal, or the ball one.
I’ll finish on that plea for more sponsors, please get in touch by contacting our main voluntary commercial man on the Football Committee, Liam Hickey, on 07967212353

Enjoy the game, Up The Hamlet!

Further reading