Dulwich Hamlet-in the snow 2/2/2009

I took these photos of Champion Hill afte,r the heavy overnight snowfalls, on Monday 2nd February. I posted them on Blogger with no problem, but they disappeared a few days later, so this is my second attempt! I have no idea where they went to!

I have already covered Champion Hill on this site, and don't usually repeat photos, & if I do I include it in the same post. But as a Dulwich Hamlet fan I suppose I'm entitled to include these separately as a posting in their own right! ;-)

I'm not including that many words, as I've already described the ground in the first set I took, and these are just for show in the snow.



Locals enjoy making a snowman in the car park!



Before we go into the stadium we're going to go round behind the far end, to see what the all-weather pitch is like...



No seven-a-sides for a while I think!







And back round to the car park end, & into the ground.

Molesey

I took these photos of Molesey on Boxing Day 2007, again not the best set of snaps, but hopefully you'll get the flovour of the ground. This was for a Ryman League Division South match versus the Hamlet, but they are now in the Combined Counties League Premier Division.

I first visited here in 1979, for an Isthmian League Cup tie, when I was still at school, and got in free! Back then I proudly kept a scrapbook of Hamlet match reports, along with my programmes & own notes, & I sat in the stand with it the week before. He started talking to me (I was 13, & nowadays would've rung Childline!) & he read my folder. Turned out he was the Molesey chairman on a scouting mission before the cup tie, & he wrote me a note to give to the gateman to get me into the game free! Thankfully my 'dossier' wasn't as good as those of Don Revie, and we still one, despite his 'inside information'!




Here are their turnstiles. now I know that it's their initials, but I'm sorry, to me 'MFC' will always be for Millwall! It's a Sarf Lunnon thing ;-)



Once inside you see the club shed & table.



Unfortunately I messed up this photo of the main stand, very fuzzy, but at least you get an idea of what it's like. Whoops! hopefully I've improved since I took this!



Walking round in a clockwise direction, we go past the 'tunnel', that's the Hamlet, in our away kit of all red.



Here we look up to the elevated balcony of the main stand.



On the halfway line, we can see the cover on the far side.



Here are the dugouts.



That's better! A not so blurred snap of the main stand.



Now we're looking towards behind the far goal, where there's a small, but decent, bit of cover.



As we move round there you can see a good stretch of terrace and the cover.



And from behind the goal we get a shot of the main stand, I personally think it looks a lot better from a distance.



I didn't walk round the far side for some reason, and retraced my steps to go up the other end for the second half. As you can see here this end is open, with just one step of terrace.



Another look at the main stand, this time through the net.



Moving along we look at the open end from the other corner.



And here is the far side, where you can see the cover in the middle, and a couple of steps of terrace.



Another one of my 'corner flag' shots!



And finally at closer look of the cover down the side, through a floodlight pylon!

Brentwood Town

I visited Brentwood Town , from the Ryman League Division One North, for an FA Trophy tie against the Hamlet in 2007/08. Unfortunately we lost, but apart from that it was a 'perfect cup draw': away to a team whose ground I have never been to before, on my Saturday off work! ;-)

When you arrive at the ground you see a faded old 'Brentwood FC' sign, they added the Town suffix in 2004.



Here are the main turnstiles.



I'm going to try to take you round this ground in an anit-clockwise direction, but it's not a perfect tour, as I wasn't really in 'full blogging photo mode' as I hadn't got a computer yet!
Here we move down the side & look back at the cover behind the goal. The turnstiles we came in the ground are out of shot, to the left, as we look.



I like the tea bar which they had customised, but wouldn't have looked out of place at a fair ground!



Hard standing down the side, towards the main stand, with overflowing rubbish. Well it is Essex... ;-)



Here we look across the pitch as the Hamlet have their pre-match huddle. Call me old fashioned, but I can't stand this! I'm not sure if the new 'line up & shake hands' instruction is better or not!



Here we've walked past the mian stand, and are looking back at it. The clubhouse is built in behind it.



Inside the ground, almost tucked away, the club tractor.



On our way behind the goal, training goals on the side too.



Outside the ground, behind the far goal, it's just too far to go back to the bar to use the toilets for one Hamlet fan!



Back on the other side of the fence we're on our way behind the goal.



And here we look back, at some of the visiting fans.



From behind the goal we look over to the main stand side.



And through the net we glimpse the open far side, where the dug outs are. Unfortunately I don't have a proper photograph of this part of the ground, as I wasn't in full 'photoblogging mode' back then. Sorry!



Now we're at the other end, and under the covered terrace, looking over towards the tea bar area.



The covered terrace itself is only a few shallow steps, but more than adequate for the crowds & level, you can sit down & no-one blocks your view!



Here is a good shot of the shelter, our last view of the Brentwood Centre ground.