As well as the usual transfers in and out of the club to the playing staff, there have been arrivals and departures off the pitch at Dulwich this summer.

Please be aware that the contributions of those mentioned below are too great to cover in a single statement, so be assured that there will be a more comprehensive review of the appointments and departures in the coming weeks.

Firstly, it is with great sadness that we announce the departure of Tom Cullen as director of the club. Tom initially joined the club in a media role in 2016, before playing an immensely important role in keeping the club in existence during our time in exile, as he became a director in 2018 and immediately took the lead in the efforts to save the club during our time in Tooting & Mitcham. Tom's incredible contribution to the club is too great to cover in one statement, we will be revisiting his work since 2018 in matchday programmes and online in the next few weeks.

Chairman Ben Clasper said, “The fact that a club would not exist were it not for a particular individual is an irritatingly overused phrase in football but I don’t hesitate to use it in Tom’s case. I am sorry to see him step down but far less sorry that it will give me a chance to tell others about his part in our recent story and hope that in stepping down he can enjoy the club without having to worrying about the content of the next board meeting. We have always discussed as a board the importance of refreshing and recharging and this is a more than well deserved break for Tom. It is in stark contrast with other organisations in our game where racking up as many board positions and clinging on for as many decades as possible is the source of so many problems, I am proud that our board see completing a good job and handing over to a fresh pair of hands to solve the next piece of the puzzle as success and look forward to all of us being able to follow Tom’s example.”

After an initial season working with the club to fill a skills gap on the board, we are also pleased that Peter Crouch is keen to continue his association with Dulwich Hamlet. His final output as Director of Football at the end of last season was to create a three-year plan for matters relating to what happens on the pitch, which has been incorporated into the club's three-year plan as a whole. Peter's work with the Hamlet will take a back seat to his media career for the foreseeable future.

“We were impressed with Peter’s contribution at the end of last season," said Ben, "especially when we saw that his feedback on the Director of Football role included practical recommendations on next steps and future management of the club, and we look forward to actioning those ideas with the new appointments for the coming season. We were also pleased that Peter’s relationship with the club and those that work here day in day out has clearly developed to the point that he’s keen to return and keep up to date with our progress and we look forward to welcoming him back.”

With Tom stepping down as director, and Peter relinquishing his position as Director of Football, the club are delighted to announce that former player Dumebi Dumaka has been appointed to the board. Dumebi played for the Hamlet between 2016 and 2018, scoring 12 times in 51 games, and was part of the squad which earned promotion to the National League South. We have received confirmation that he has passed the FA's Owners' and Directors' test, and he will take up the position of Company Director of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club Limited and Director of Football on behalf of the club. We hope that fans will join us in extending a warm welcome on his return.

On Dumebi's appointment, Ben said, "This is the end of a long journey for us as a board and we wanted to make sure that we were ready to keep the momentum up from our season’s work with Peter to define how this role could work on a longer term basis. We started conversations with Dumebi during the season and progressed things slowly to make sure there were no expectation gaps and to give the board the chance to get to know Dumebi professionally and personally and to make sure Dumebi had visibility into what he is signing up for. This is a key role as by definition a club owned and run by fans is far less likely to have anyone from a football background and we look forward to seeing Dumebi deliver on his areas of our three year plan and provide more board level support to the team management.”

Tom’s departure as a director also sees him leave his role as Head of Media and Communication at the club. We are delighted to welcome Tom Bale back to the club to fill this vacant position. Tom will be known to many fans at Champion Hill having worked with and for the club for seven years between 2014 and 2021, firstly when Football Exclusives were the filming partner for the Hamlet, before he helped to create Dulwich Hamlet TV on YouTube in 2016, going on to provide the commentary on the men’s fixtures for five seasons.

“Since 2018 we have been slowly rebuilding the club and as part of our commitment to reinvest everything we earn back into the club to the benefit of the fans we have been planning a role to help us communicate better with our fans and local community to make sure they hear from us and know that their voice will be heard in return." said Ben. "When the prospect of Tom Bale returning to take on that role was raised it fell into the ‘too good to be true’ category as Tom was so instrumental in building those links between the club and its community. Tom loves the club but is equally ready to stand up for the differing views in the fanbase and address the difficult subjects. If a club is fan-owned and fan-run it is critical that media and communications work in both directions and we know we can trust Tom to manage that.”