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Dulwich Hamlet F.C.

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Nickname(s)
  
The Hamlet

Chairman
  
Liam Hickey

Manager
  
Gavin Rose

Ground Capacity
  
3,000 (500 seated)

Arena/Stadium
  
Founded
  
1893

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Dulwich Hamlet FC songbook the great chants from Champion Hill

Full name
  
Dulwich Hamlet Football Club

2015–16
  
Isthmian League Premier Division, 5th

League
  
Isthmian League Premier Division

Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a football club based in Dulwich, in the London Borough of Southwark in England. The club are currently members of the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, and play at Champion Hill.

Contents

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Dulwich Hamlet Football Club fan site with reports photos and chat

History

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Dulwich Hamlet London39s most hipster football club Global The

The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. In 1907 they joined both the Isthmian League and the Spartan League, leaving the latter at the end of the 1907–08 season. In 1919–20 the club won its first Isthmian League title, winning the league on goal average against Nunhead. They also won the FA Amateur Cup, beating Tufnell Park 1–0 in the final at the Den.

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Information Dulwich Hamlet Football Club

The club won the league again in 1925–26, and the FA Amateur Cup for a second time in 1931–32 win a 7–1 win against Marine in the final. The following season the club won their third league title. In 1933–34 they reached the Amateur Cup final again, but lost 2–1 to Leyton. The two clubs met in the final again in 1936–37, with Dulwich winning 2–0.

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Ground redevelopment planning application submitted Dulwich Hamlet

In 1948–49 the club won the Isthmian League for a fourth time. A fifth Isthmian League title – in the restructured First Division – was won in 1977–78, but after several years of gradual decline, the club finished bottom of the Premier Division in 1989–90, and were relegated to Division One. They were promoted back to the Premier Division at the end of the 1991–92 season after finishing third in Division One. In 1998–99 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time since 1948, losing 1–0 to Southport.

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After finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 2000–01, the club were relegated back to Division One. After finishing seventh in 2003–04, the club played off against Wealdstone for a place in the Premier Division after league re-organisation, but lost 5–4 on penalties after a 2–2 draw. In 2010–11 Dulwich finished fifth and entered the promotion play-offs, beating Bognor Regis Town 3–1 in the semi-finals before losing 4–3 to Leatherhead in the final. The following season the club finished third, again qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Folkestone Invicta 2–1 in the semi-finals, they lost the final 1–0 to Bognor Regis. They returned to the Premier Division after winning the Division One South title on the last day of the 2012–13 season with a 1–1 draw against Burgess Hill Town.

Dulwich Hamlet F.C. England Dulwich Hamlet Results fixtures tables statistics

In 2014–15 Dulwich finished fourth in the Premier Division, qualifying for the play-offs. However, they lost 2–1 at Margate in the semi-finals. The following season the club finished fifth, and reached the play-off final after winning 1–0 at Bognor Regis Town in the semi-final, before going on to lose 3–1 at East Thurrock United.

Stadium

The club played at Woodwarde Road until 1895, when they moved to College Farm. The following year they moved to Sunray Avenue, where they remained until 1902. Between 1902 and 1912 they played at Freeman's Ground on Champion Hill, before moving to an adjacent plot of land, where they played until the opening of the Champion Hill stadium in 1931. The stadium was used for amateur international matches, including the 1948 Summer Olympics.

In 1991 the stadium was demolished, as it was too run-down and dangerous to bring up to modern safety standards, as a result of new regulations brought in as a result of the Hillsborough disaster. During the 1991–92 season the club played at Tooting & Mitcham United's Sandy Lane ground, whilst a new, smaller stadium was built on the same site, opening for the start of the 1992–93 season. The new stadium was funded by the sale to Sainsbury's of land that had once been the club's training pitch, situated immediately behind the large covered terrace on the north side of the 'old' Champion Hill, by the landlords King's College London. The new ground remained in King's ownership, with the club having given up the lease on the old ground in return for the new ground being built.

In September 2013 it became the first football ground in Greater London to be listed as an Asset of community value, but this was withdrawn not long after, as there were legal problems with the application.

Current squad

As of 21 February 2017

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Notable former players

During the 1920s the club had two players capped by the full England team. Bert Coleman was capped whilst playing for Dulwich in 1921, whilst Edgar Kail won three caps against France, Belgium and Spain in 1929. Kail was the last amateur player to play for England whilst solely with an amateur club, and shunned many approaches to professional clubs to stay with Dulwich Hamlet, his local side, for whom he scored over 400 goals, and is still the subject of terrace songs by fans of the club. Benjamin Odeje was the first black footballer to represent England at any level. He played in five schoolboy internationals, making his debut against Northern Ireland at Wembley in 1971. This was while he was with Charlton Athletic, but when released by them, eventually not being kept on as a professional, he had a spell at Dulwich Hamlet.

Former Dulwich players who went on to play in the Football League or Premier League include:

Backroom staff

As of August 2015

Managerial history

From 1966 onwards:

Supporters

Dulwich Hamlet had the highest attendance in the Isthmian League in 2015–16, with an average attendance was 1,343, more than double the next highest at Hampton & Richmond Borough. The club has gained a reputation for the activist element of their support, with the fans behind the goal going by the nickname of "The Rabble". In recent seasons, the Football Club Committee, Supporters Trust and fans have backed anti-discrimination and anti-homophobia initiatives, amongst many other initiatives within the community.

Hamlet fans have developed a friendship with supporters of German club Altona 1893, as the two clubs were founded in the same year, which began as a friendship started by the Dulwich Hamlet supporters' team. In recognition of the relationship, the club adopted the Altona 1893 home strip as their away strip for the 2014–15 season.

On 12 July 2015, Altona 1893 and a large group of fans made the journey to South London to play a friendly between the two sides. Altona 1893 won 5–3 on the day.

In July 2015, Altona 1893 unveiled their new away strip in pink and blue colours, featuring a friendship logo on the sleeve.

The supporters' team have toured all over Europe, and as well as having a friendship with Altona 93 fans, also have links with Red Star F.C. from Paris; HJK Helsinki from Finland, UR Namur from Belgium, the Belgian branch of the Paris Saint-Germain supporters club, Queen's Park from Glasgow and JK Jalgpallihaigla from Estonia.

Honours

  • FA Amateur Cup
  • Winners 1919–20, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37
  • Isthmian League
  • Champions 1919–20, 1925–26, 1932–33, 1948–49, 1977–78
  • Division One South Champions 2012–13
  • London Senior Cup
  • Winners 1924–25, 1938–39, 1949–50, 1983–84, 2003–04
  • Surrey Senior Cup
  • Winners 1904–05, 1905–06, 1908–09, 1909–10, 1919–20, 1922–23, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1946–47, 1949–50, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1973–74, 1974–75 (Record 16 times)
  • London Chellenge Cup Winners 1998-99

  • London Junior Cup
  • Winners 1899–00
  • Club records

  • Most first team appearances: Reg Merritt, 576 (1950–1966)
  • Most consecutive first team appearances: Chris Lewington, 290 (1977–1982)
  • Most first team goals in career: Edgar Kail, 427 (1919–1933)
  • Most first team goals in a season: Edgar Kail, 53 (1925–1926)
  • Biggest Isthmian League wins: 10–1 vs West Norwood (1920–21); 9–0 v Worthing (1990–91)
  • Heaviest Isthmian League defeats: 1–10 vs Hendon (1963–64); 0–9 v Walthamstow Avenue (1945–46)
  • Biggest cup win: 13–0 vs Walton-on-Thames, Surrey Senior Cup (1936–37)
  • Heaviest cup defeat: 0–9 vs Hornchurch FA Cup (2004–05)
  • Highest attendance (new stadium): 3,000, Dulwich Hamlet v Maidstone United, 18 April 2015
  • Highest attendance (old stadium): 20,744, Kingstonian v Stockton, FA Amateur Cup Final (1932–33)
  • References

    Dulwich Hamlet F.C. Wikipedia