My team is ... Dulwich Hamlet FC. Founded in 1893 at Champion Hill, the pride of South London (South London’s No 1, you know it’s true, we’re pink and blue ... sorry, couldn’t resist).
They play ... football. The beautiful game — well, sometimes, in the case of the Hamlet. At times it is indeed exquisite, at others it is downright awful. But that’s all part of the fun when you fluctuate between the sixth and seventh tiers of the English football pyramid.
I support them because ... I lived in Dulwich, three minutes walk from Champion Hill, for most of my two years in London. They are a fixture in the community. You see the beanies everywhere in winter and the pubs and local businesses are all into it. They are an inclusive club that value their fans and it really plays a huge part in tying Dulwich together as a strong community within London. You can get a coffee on Lordship Lane, get lunch at the market, have a pre-game pint at the pub, wander up to the Hill, all without walking more than 15 minutes from your house. Always a fun day too, win or lose.
You should also be a Dulwich Hamlet fan ... for that reason — because they are a club that value their fans and community. They’re great with keeping their socials updated and they post extended highlights of their games so you can keep up with them. Highly recommended for anyone heading over (Dulwich is a great place to live and it hardly ever gets mentioned by Kiwis).
My favourite moment ... is hard to specify. We got relegated my first year there, and the last couple have been a bit rough too. But it’s more about the experiences. The buzz of the walk to the ground. The rabble singing behind the goal. A crowd of 3000-plus rattling their keys at a "key moment" in the game. The characters of Champion Hill. The lore. The way it became a fixture in my second-home. All of it. I miss it.
My all-time favourite player is ... Nyren Clunis is the modern-day GOAT. The King of Camberwell scored 117 goals in 486 games in his first stint at the Hamlet. He’s just come back this year after a couple away and passed 500 games. Edgar Kail represented England in 1929 while playing for Dulwich and was the last non-league player to play for the national team. And a guy you might have heard of called Peter Crouch played six games and a scored a goal for the Hamlet in 2000 — five years later he was playing for Liverpool. Great taste in teams he had.
My favourite current player is ... either Luke Wanadio or Anthony Jeffrey (AJ). Both just so exciting on each wing and conjure up plenty of memorable moments from nothing.
The future for my team is ... predictable. The club seems happy being what it is. A run into league football is not on the cards, but that’s not really the point. They’re the glue of the community and I don’t see that changing fast.
