Champion Hill Isthmian League Premier Saturday November 29th 2014
With Boston drawing Workington at home in the FA Trophy- a tie about as glamorous as a trip to the Middle East, Nick and I were looking up southern fixtures and with him having some strange connection to Dulwich Hamlet, it was decided to go see them.
Dultras
Later in the week I did a bit of research and found that there is an interesting story behind the club, its Champion Hill ground and a section of their fans. The ground used to be huge- built for the 1948 Olympics it attracted crowds of over 20,000. However in the 50’s it fell into decline, like Dulwich’s finances and in the 80s the ground was sold to Sainsbury’s, who own the site. The club decided to play at the then training pitch and it has since been renovated into a small stadium with a nice elevated main stand, a section of covered terracing down the other side and 2 shallow uncovered terraces at either end.
They also get some of the highest crowds in the Ryman Premier and have a bunch of fanatical fans (Dultras) who have some more extreme political views than your average punter.
Nevertheless, I left King’s Norton at 10… I could’ve gone straight from Brum to Euston but decided to go via Tamworth and meet Nick on the way. I was risking a super off peak ticket to Euston (£15) but I had to travel London Midland and was not meant to arrive into London until 1pm. The guard pointed out that on the CrossCountry leg to Tamworth that my ticket shouldn’t have been valid (something I never noticed) but despite a 10 minute delay, I made the train at Tamworth as that too was delayed slightly.
That’s when the journey fell apart. We’d gone to Wealdstone and lost an hour fannying about in Brum because the cheap tickets only applied on Chiltern trains. Here, we got just outside Nuneaton before we slowed.
At first we thought it was because we were waiting for BTP to nick a ticketless passenger hiding in the bogs but a scan on the net confirmed our worst fears…. a nutter had jumped in front of a train at Watford and killed themselves. 60 minute delays.
We crawled to Rugby (albeit still faster than the East Midlands box to Boston) and arrived there 25 minutes late as we needed to wait for a platform as trains were already stacked up. We got to the home of plastic (Milton Keynes) in good time but then inevitably slowed and stopped just past Tring. We waited and waited until eventually we got diverted onto the slow line to pass the death scene.
It all meant we arrived over an hour late into Euston (2pm) and we then had to get the tube to Victoria. Realizing that we’d now only get into Denmark Hill at 1448, we stayed on the tube, hoping to get a taxi from nearby Brixton to the ground once we alighted at 2:30. Sadly, the station fed onto Brixton High Street and it was a dump with people everywhere. We struggled to get a taxi and eventually got one from Loughborough Junction station- 1.5 miles from the ground. After forking out £8 for a taxi (London for you!) we got there at 2:55 but the queues at the car wash end turnstiles were vast, so we missed the teams coming out as I was busy parting with £4 for a concessions ticket.
Main Stand
Kingstonian fans
Covered terrace
Once in, I then grabbed a burger(£3 and a tea (£1), whilst Nick got us a programme each (£2). All were reasonable quality though the burger didn’t fill either of us up much as we made our way to the covered side terrace. To our left, the Dultras and to the right about 50 or so Kingstonian fans who’d made the 12 mile journey and a German sausage tent. All in what turned out to be a very impressive crowd of 1,027 (over 300 more than at York Street to see Boston beat Workington 2-1)
The game saw few real chances either way but Kingstonian got themselves into the lead through Alan Inns and apart from a superb curling effort by Nyren Clunis which rattled the bar, Kingstonian were relatively comfortable and looked threatening from set pieces, with the host’s keeper looking quite unconvincing for much of the day.
At half time, I had one of those horrible moments in the bogs when you feel like you need to go… you can guess the rest! Grabbed a bratwurst from the German hotdog stall, though £5 for the privilege certainly made me need a double take! At this point we decided to stick at the car wash end with the Dulwich fans, who to their great credit never stopped singing all day and had a range of songs, mostly quirky, even if one of two were a little cringy. Also noteworthy was the atmosphere, it was more aimed at supporting your team and quite friendly as opposed to up North where we enjoy a bit of needle between sets of fans (when they actually bother to come in decent numbers to Boston) and it is a bit more intense. Also, there were a lot of students around us (£4 a pop is good value though) and they even had a young person starting one of the songs. I turned round expecting to see a young lad but it was a young girl of about 8 or 9 standing on a wall rallying the troops. Not something you see every day!
2nd half in amongst the fans
The 2nd half began in similar fashion. If anything, Kingstonian looked more likely to score. Phil Wilson shot narrowly wide as the hosts defence opened up. Frazer Shaw came to Dulwich’s rescue with a goal-line block and the visitors had other chances to kill the game off.
Dulwich did eventually get some pressure together and ex Pilgrim Albert Jarrett curled a free kick inches wide but on 76 minutes, Clunis did well down the right and his cut back fell to Harry Ottaway, who took his time before slamming the ball into the bottom left corner. Being at that end it was impossible not to get involved in the celebrations as bodies surged forwards.
I then thought Dulwich would pile on the pressure but it didn’t happen. There was a 20 man brawl after a foul on Ashley Carew but the ref bottled sending anyone off. Inns forced Phil Watson to deny him a 2nd for the visitors before with time running out Clunis blazed over when well set in the box, but he redeemed himself with 3 minutes to go by latching onto a through ball, controlling superbly, before rounding Tolfrey and tapping in to send the bulk of the 1,027 into raptures.
That was the last meaningful effort and after only 3 added minutes, the game ended. Dulwich in truth, didn’t deserve to win and a draw may have been about right, but the teams nearer the top can win these sort of games. Kingstonian are firmly in the midfield, their season seemingly going nowhere whilst Dulwich are up to 4th.
I’d say ruining football
Euston
Victoria
Denmark Hill looking East
Cramped on the tube
Rip-off London strikes again!
Denmark Hill looking West
Upon leaving, we walked 10 minutes to Denmark Hill station. Boston had won 2-1 but Dayle Southwell had suffered a bad hamstring injury it seemed, so I pondered where our goals would now come from. Having nearly got ran over crossing to the very well presented station, we then made our journey to Victoria, where the drama wasn’t over. The guard was being a jobsworth and said my ticket was not valid for a tube ride, so I queued up and forked out FOUR POUNDS SEVENTY for a single to Euston (5 mins). That meant we missed the 1746 back to Crewe and had to get the 1813 (not a problem for me but Nick would get in later). I was hungry and thirsty and made the error of paying £6 for a Chicken Royale from Burger King which was full of greenery and mayo… yuck!
Then, even more farcically, Euston station decided until 1808 and us tucking into the meal before deciding we needed to change platforms…. sodding southerners! We would NEVER get this at New Street or Leeds Leeds Leeds.
There were STILL problems at Watford so we got delayed by just enough to ensure I missed the 2023 back to King’s Norton, meaning a 20 minute wait, but not before taking the piss out of the posh London Midland announcer who said the train stopped at Leighton Bazzard, Wragby, Long Backby et al, all sounding like she would surprise you by saying there were more stations in the list.
All in all though, a really enjoyable day. I’d recommend it very much so. The delays down south are becoming as predictable as delays at Tamworth but probably help make the trip. One day we will go down south and thins will run seamlessly.
Next up for me is a home game. Depends what happens in the trophy but barring any midweekers, the next confirmed away is Barrow on December 20th, it’s what dreams are made of!
Under The Floodlights 