Pink Panther

Not unless you're at least 100 years old.

James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I very much doubt the present ground will be > developed for housing. It would represent the loss > of as valuble community facility and the council > has numerous policies to prevent this UNLESS > councillors on a planning committee are asked to > vote on this and the Labour administration wanted > it to proceed. The similar proposal by Cliveden Estates in conjunction with Sainsbury's Homebase was rejected by Southwark Council (against the advice of its own Planning Officer) in 2002. It was stated at that meeting that there was no objection to building a Homebase on the site of the current football ground, and the scheme was only rejected because of the proposed new ground on Greendale. The whole proposal collapsed as DHFC still had ten years remaining on their lease at that time, but Southwark Council was happy for the current ground to be developed for retail use twleve years ago so I'm sceptical that they would oppose redevelopment now. Dulwich Hamlet FC played on the site of the proposed new ground (i.e. the current astroturf pitch) for around twenty years up to 1931, when they moved to the vast ground that partly occupied the site of the current ground. So there has already been a fully functioning football ground with a stand, ancillary buildings etc. on this site. You can still see banking from the old terracing to the north and west of the current astroturf pitch, so it is factually incorrect to say (as many people seem to be doing) that no part of Greedales has ever been built on, or that the current astroturf pitch and floodlights are the only development ever to have taken place there.

jonsuissy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Threw it away last 2 months didn't they. > Great season though. > Found these pics of the old ground whilst clearing > out > Looks like they could've been against Kingstonian > like yesterday > Taken mid 80s I'd reckon when I first moved to > Dulwich > Jon Thanks for sharing those pics. The match was against Walthamstow Avenue in 1986/7. That was the only season we wore pink shorts and Avenue finished bottom and we never played them again as they amalgamated with Leytonstone-Ilford, eventually renaming themselves Redbridge Forest before amalgamating with Dagenham, to form the club now playing in the Football League. Avenue are wearing their away kit. (Their traditional colours were sky & navy hoops.) The Hamlet players in the first picture are Stokley Sawyers (no.10) and Paul Williams, who played one League match for Chelsea as a youngster. From memory it was Sawyers' debut for the club and they both scored an a game Hamlet won 5-2.

neilson99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pink Panther if you read my post properly you'll > realise that I was not celebrating in any way the > fact that they got paid so little. I suspect your > just looking for some reason to latch onto this > issue and do your best Angry of East Dulwich > impression. > > Perhaps it was located in the wrong place in the > car park such that you got a little damp on the > way to such an illustrious and well appointed > stadium, (you could always take 30 seconds and > walk around it rather than through it?) but only a > complete simpleton would think that evicting a > source of revenue (however meagre and badly > managed that has been) might not be the best way > to helping DHFC to a financially sustainable > future. > > Hope DHFC and their poor rain soaked fans are > pleased that they are putting out of work some > people who seemed to me to work their backsides > off, do a really great job and always did it in a > polite and friendly way. Let's hope that karmma > doesn't kick in and that they get relegated this > season, they'd deserve it if they did! Well you certainly haven't read my post properly. As I stated in the first place, they worked on too many vehicles simultaneously, not just under the canopy area, so on occasions you literally couldn't reach the turnstiles without getting sprayed. This created a clear H&S issue. I suspect if the relevant council official(s) had been summoned to have a look they would have been distinctly unimpressed. At one recent game, when the match ended, there was a bloody great 4x4 parked right across the exit gates (with several other vehicles behind and in front of it) being sprayed with high pressure water jets while 600 people were attempting to leave the ground. If anyone thinks that's acceptable I don't feel they're being very realistic. The bottom line is that it's DHFC's ground and DHFC's car park. The whole place was clearly built as a football ground, with a car park for those attending football matches, not as a site for a car wash. The shysters who used to run DHFC decided in their wisdom that they could make a few quid by accommodating the car wash. By contrast the new owners appear to have qualities such as competence, efficiency, and adherence to proper business principles. If they decide that they no longer wish to sub-let part of DHFC's premises to a completely unrelated business it's their prerogative to take the appropriate action to move it out. DHFC has no moral obligation whatsoever to accommodate a car wash or any other business on its land.

neilson99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What a shame these guys were fantastic and worked > their backsides off for not a lot. I stood there > one day and worked out they must make less than a > pound per car each. I hope they sort it out or > relocate somewhere nearby. > > What a load if tosh people getting soaked waiting > at the turnstiles I've never seen a queue for the > football. Fantastic that people earn less than ?1 per car each? I hope you get paid similar rates for whatever job you do. As a Hamlet supporter I'm delighted that this cowboy operation has finally been closed down. Not before time too. Only a complete simpleton could fail to understand that it was located in a stupid position in the first place. We can thank the previous owners of the ground and football club for that. A bunch of chancers out to make a quick profit with minimal overheads who didn't give a toss about cutting corners or doing anything the right way. (These are the same people who were happy to accept late night lettings in the football clubhouse in breach of the licence, causing noise nuisance for neighbours into the small hours.) They dragged the name of Dulwich Hamlet FC through the gutter, brought the club to the brink of collapse after 120 years of existence, and all Hamlet supporters are delighted to see the back of them. Why the hell should football supporters have to walk through a miasma of cold water, muck and detergent to get into the ground? At the very least the car wash should have been required to close an hour before kick off on matchdays. On one occasion after queueing at the turnstiles I could taste the soap in the back of my nose and throat, it was disgusting. There are also clear H&S issues. The drains and gutters around the carwash area were hopelessly inadquate for the amount of water being used. After several year of being continuously saturated with water and whatever chemical cleaning agents were used the surface around the car wash area is now potholed and a clear trip hazard. After midweek games in freezing temperatures the surface was very slippery where all the surface water from the car wash had begun to freeze over. They worked on too many vehicles simultaneously - I once counted nine - which were backed up in an arc right in front of the turnstiles and across the exit gates, with long hosepipes trailing in front of our entrance/exit. On one occasion I saw an older suppoter snag his foot in a hosepipe, but fortunately he noticed before it tripped him up. Quite simply it was in the worst possible position and whoever decided to put it there deserves to be hosed down with cold water. If anyone thinks it was so wonderful I suggest they should lobby Sainsbury's to accommodate it in their car park, which is much bigger than ours. I reckon most of the car wash trade came from Sainsbury's customers who otherwise wouldn't even have diverted off Dog Kennel Hill in the first place. It could fit nicely into the parking bays just inside the car park entrance to the left of the main entrance to the shop. It might be a bit inconvenient for some shoppers having a continual stream of slow moving vehicles passing in front of the shop doors and having to watch they don't trip over a trailing hosepipe, or getting sprayed on their way in/out of the shop, but so what? It remains to be seen whether or not the new owners' long term plans are of benefit to Dulwich Hamlet FC, but at least unlike their precedessors they give the impression of being a well run company that operates with proper business principles.