To Champion Hill!
…on Saturday afternoon to see Dulwich Hamlet host Carshalton in a tasty National League South fixture.
The journey seemed straightforward enough. We were in Clap’ham and so the Windrush line for one stop over to Denmark Hill and then a short walk down to the ground, looked like the best option.
But wait! What’s this?
The Windrush line was down arse.
A quick reverse ferry and we were back on Acre Lane, left waiting for the bloody number 37 bus.
Oh dear, the bloody number 37 bus.
Back in the day I seem to have spent half my free time on a Saturday waiting for the bloody number 37 bus, or even travelling on the bloody number 37 bus.
It remains the most unreliable bus in all of South London, despite a few tinkering’s with the route change.
The bus finally rocked up and we managed to find the last two seats on the top deck. We were surrounded by what looked like a bus full of Bright Young Things, all heading their way over to Champion Hill. That’s something you didn’t see back in the day.
We arrived outside the ground a few minutes after kick off. The queues to get in were batshit crazy.
I felt for the poor stewards who were trying to guide people into the ever growing number of queues.
There was the queue for season ticket holders, the queue for people with digital tickets on their phone, the queue for the bag search, and then the queue for the poor sods who were left in some kind of holding area, waiting to see if any space was left in the ground once everyone with a ticket had entered. There must have been at least 250 people without a ticket waiting to gain entry.
Back in the day - and I mean REALLY back in the day - I thought nothing of rocking up at Champion Hill at five past three on my bicycle, banging on the big blue gate, and then seeing the friendly face of Bill opening it and waving me through, bicycle as well.
Not all changes are for the better.
But everyone is welcome. Dulwich Hamlet was a dying club. Around 2007 to 2008 when my patients finally snapped, it seemed unlikely that the club would limp on into the next decade, given the levels of debt, the apathy, and the lack of supporters.
So here we have, in 2026, the first home sell out crowd of the season, with 3,000-plus crammed into the old ground. The new stadium can’t come quick enough.
I had vague plans to meet a couple of pals. On previous occasions it would have been a simple case of walking around the ground on a photo shoot and then stumbling into them. Some careful pre-match planning had to go in place to define the exact meeting point.
I made my way past the group of partying Bright Young Things with their party hats and headed towards the Greendale End.
The Carshalton fans had already taken a small section of the Toilets Opposite Stand. They seemed in fine form - and so they should be, with their team having a decent start to the season as well as i this game.
As ever with Crap Match Reports, little focus can be spent on the actual game itself. Truth be told it was a little tricky to actually see what was going on, given the sheer number of people packed around all four sides of the ground.
I could see quite clearly however, that the pitch was in stunning condition. This was lush green. It wouldn’t have looked out of place in a top flight fixture.
Meet ups were made. I managed to have a view of probably around two-thirds of the ground.
From what I could see the quality and play was a massive step up from what we’ve seen in recent weeks back at Wivenhoe Town - and even the new Wivenhoe Town of 2026 are playing a pretty special brand of football.
I took a bit of a moment to look around and try and see some of the old faces. I do miss the ease of being able to see the likes of Mishi and Steve R and having a brief catch up about football. I like to think that something of their character and presence still remains around the old place.
Conversations followed with plenty of catch ups. The football was a little secondary to be honest.
Look there you go - You’ve become one of those Dulwich dickheads who goes to watch the Pink ‘n’ Blue Boys as part of a social gathering, the football being secondary.
I did see the Carshalton first goal and then also had a clear view for a Dulwich equaliser that was probably just about rightly ruled offside.
Carshalton added a second before Dulwich got a deserved equaliser, making it 2-2. They did press hard towards the final five minutes for all three points.
The Key Moment shit thing still takes place. The jingling jangling of keys was funny for about five minutes, five years ago.
SHOUT OUT to the wonderful Hill song, which the Rabble now sing to celebrate the abundance of hills around this patch of Transpontonia.
It all got a little weird towards the final whistle. Three very young ankle biters were making their way around the Greendale terrace, trying to meet up with their adults. There was a strange sight of one little kid walking between the legs of anybody who got in his way.
The Tuscany sky started to gloom a little as we slowly headed our way out of Champion Hill. Everyone was in good spirits, apart from a very small minority group from the Carshalton ultras, who probably still had their homework to do ahead of Monday morning.
Trashing a shopping trolley in a public park where people are filming you is not the best of looks.
The train was boarded back to London Bridge and blimey, there he was. I wasn’t expecting to be in the same carriage as K, also making his way back to Weird Wiv.
You can take the boy out of Champion Hill, etc.
