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| I obviously can't believe Burnley v Barnsley is being streamed! |
One of the advantages of non-league football is surely that you can leave the house and be in the ground 10 minutes later. Not so at Dulwich Hamlet, as, since their return to Champion Hill, they've had sellouts. Today looked similar, as the queue at the Sainsbury turnstile doubled back and was halfway through the park to Champion Hill (the road) itself. So when I noticed peeps heading towards the turnstiles on the opposite side, I got my little hopes up. Nobody knows about them, they're not usually open (well, I s'pose none of the turnstiles have been open much in the last year). No, it was for ticketholders only. That'll teach me to have my headphones in. Still, I bumped into James, a lapsed Liverpool fan, and his kids. (BTW, are you 'lapsed' if you've never been in the first place? Perhaps 'armchair' would be a better description.)
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| The 'secret' queue |
Talking of armchair, that's why I was late myself. I'd done that thing I know loads of Arsenal/Liverpool/Man U 'fans' do...I'd found a live stream on the internet of my own team's big match: the world had demanded Burnsley (Burnley v Barnsley) in the FA Cup and the Football Association, determined to undermine the mythical 'magic' of this competition, had buckled; 12:30 kick-off for our huge south-east Asia audience. (FYI, the Super Reds lost with a 92nd minute penalty. With Dyche moaning about Burnley's lack of penalties in the Premiership every week, does this prove him wrong.... or add more grist to the mill? It must be much easier giving a penalty against Barnsley than, say, Arsenal)
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| The main turnstile queue snakes through the park. |
Anyway, good luck to the Hamlet. In adversity they've come back stronger and the community has really rallied around. Who knows where they could end up if they consistently average 2-3000. I know one thing - they've had more sellouts in a week than my beloved Barnsley have had in 10 years. Still, I'm home, I'm warm...and the missus has let me hang the washing up. It's not all bad.
Onwards and upwards!
Dulwich's problems (thanks to the Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/26/dulwich-hamlet-fc-champion-hill-improbable-tale-tiny-football-club-that-lost-its-home-to-developers-and-won-it-back
ps, Dulwich lost 0-2 to Bath. It can't have helped that the manager said beforehand there's some bad eggs in the dressing room and he wants to ship half a dozen players out. Good luck with that.
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| And why not visit Bar Story for cocktails later!? |
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