DHFC noise disturbance, evening match

[Gary P]

Alex K Wrote:

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> Bluerevolution writes: "As for residential, the

> local housing were built AFTER the stadium so any

> complaints aren't viable."

>

> I live on Abbotswood Road -- in one of those units

> of local housing -- and I try to be a good

> neighbour with respect to activities at the

> stadium and grounds. "It'll all be over in a few

> hours" has got me through many sulky moments.

>

> When one of the football club's officials

> expresses as his or her opinion, however, "We were

> here first so naff off", that strikes me as

> un-neighbourly.

>

> "We have our ways, ways that we cherish -- we

> recognise that they reflect in some respects the

> environment in which they were formed -- we

> recognise that that environment has changed --

> we'll look into how our ways adversely affect you,

> our neighbours, and, when practicable, we'll try

> to change those ways to be better neighbours"

> would impress me more favourably than a version of

> "Nobody likes us, we don't care".

>

> Expand the stadium and activities there? Not for

> a group who don't care that nobody likes them.

What would you like the club to do to "change their ways to be better neighbours"? Just curious.

[James Barber]

The original post is about loud drumming keeping his kids awake past 9pm. It was posted the day after a school night home game for DHFC.

I would hope that fans and the club would respond positively - perhaps some parts of the ground accentuate drumming noises leaving the ground and other parts don't. Being smarter about where drumming takes place might make all the difference.

Legislation about public nuisance is such that taking a more positive line on this will reduce the chance of that legislation being followed by neighbours. I would hope self preservation would result in s less bullish attitude. The club has undertaken some great community engagement. Perhaps some of this needs to be directed at neighbours.

This also stresses to me the lunacy of thinking adding 200 expensive flats even closer to a new adjacent ground would ensure the long-term survival of the club. It will result in a closer parallel to the Imperial Gardens fiasco - new flats built next to night club and night club closed due to noise of comings and goings.

[Penguin68]

Mr Barber - you might wish to read the subsequent posts of those actually at the match who had noticed no drumming.

Edited to say - I wonder what will be put in place to protect the sensitivities of those, particularly shift workers, who bought or leased homes near the old LL Police Station (with noise etc. expectations based on that) and now find there is to be a primary school plunged into their midst, with all the playground noise and disruption that might be expected.

[Alan Medic]

I'm with Penguin here James. As a man in position of authority you really should have read a bit more before jumping to conclusions and saying your piece.

[James Barber]

Hi Alan Medic/P68,

I did read the whole thread. I doubt we'll hear from the OP due to the aggression expressed. This often happens on the forum - so people on the doorstep tell me.

They stated they have children that couldn't get to sleep on a school night and they believed the noise came from the DHFC grounds.

In my mind two possible outcomes. Either the OP feel miffed at the abuse and go down the noise team route in future which is risky if you're a genuine fan of our local club. Or they feel listened to with respect and more inclined to suffer such occasional noises - whether drums, stamping feet or whatever - in silence with their family.

Reviewing the posts which option do you think the OP most likely to follow in the future?

If the club continues in its success more noise is likely, more inconvenience is likely. And I hope it does continue to be increasingly successful. Then fans and the club need to be engaged, respectfully with neighbours, to ensure continued tolerence. Whether you agree with the national legislation or not people have far more rights now to the quiet enjoyment with their family of their homes.

[Otta]

James Barber Wrote:

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> I doubt we'll hear from the OP due to the aggression expressed.

I doubt we'll hear from the OP due to the fact they started this thread to cause some trouble and have probably laughed their arse off ever since.

But I would say that Alex K has been nothing other than reasonable on this thread, and there do seem to be a small number of fans who don't take any kind of criticism well at all, and that should stop unless they just want the club's good reputation (and it is a good rep, even the people calling them hipsters are not doing so in a nasty way from what I've seen) to go down the toilet.

But equally there will always be some NIMBYism however much they engage with the community. Some people just like to moan and think the world should fit around them.

[rabbitears]

Penguin68 Wrote:

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> Edited to say - I wonder what will be put in place

> to protect the sensitivities of those,

> particularly shift workers, who bought or leased

> homes near the old LL Police Station (with noise

> etc. expectations based on that) and now find

> there is to be a primary school plunged into their

> midst, with all the playground noise and

> disruption that might be expected.

R u havin a Turkish m8

[Otta]

It's a valid question, a school makes loads of noise. And in case you hadn't clicked, Penguin68 seems to be on the side of DHFC and is merely turning some of the arguments on their head in a valid way. I'd be interested to hear the answer to that.

[ScabbyBadger]

Seriously Mr Barber, which bit of 'there were no drums at the match' are you failing to understand?

[nxjen]

Whether there was drumming at the match or not is a bit of a red herring. The original post was about noise levels however caused which the OP found unacceptable. This may be just a first salvo with regard to future development plans.

[DulwichGlobetrotter]

Good Lord. Politicians policing forums now...

I live very close to the DH Stadium and have only heard noise once, during an evening varsity match between some of the London university teams. That was very loud but otherwise not a peep. I can't comment on the particular game that the first poster complained about as I wasn't there and didn't notice any noise that night at home, but a complaint about drumming when eye witnesses say there were no drums does seem to be baseless.

I don't think this thread needs any more comment...

[Grok]

Out of order James Barber, well out of order. Concentrate on your own thread where people actually ask you to do something.

Well said P68.

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi Alan Medic/P68,

> I did read the whole thread. I doubt we'll hear

> from the OP due to the aggression expressed. This

> often happens on the forum - so people on the

> doorstep tell me.

> They stated they have children that couldn't get

> to sleep on a school night and they believed the

> noise came from the DHFC grounds.

>

> In my mind two possible outcomes. Either the OP

> feel miffed at the abuse and go down the noise

> team route in future which is risky if you're a

> genuine fan of our local club. Or they feel

> listened to with respect and more inclined to

> suffer such occasional noises - whether drums,

> stamping feet or whatever - in silence with their

> family.

>

> Reviewing the posts which option do you think the

> OP most likely to follow in the future?

>

> If the club continues in its success more noise is

> likely, more inconvenience is likely. And I hope

> it does continue to be increasingly successful.

> Then fans and the club need to be engaged,

> respectfully with neighbours, to ensure continued

> tolerence. Whether you agree with the national

> legislation or not people have far more rights now

> to the quiet enjoyment with their family of their

> homes.

[James Barber]

I'm agog if genuine fans of DHFC imperil the future of their club by being obnoxious to neighbours of the club on this forum and this thread.

The clubs future depends on goodwill from neighbours. I know the Southwark noise team (020 7525 57770 receive a number of complaints about evening matches and the noise generated.

[Jeremy]

I generally agree with the sentiment that if you move within earshot of a football stadium, you've nothing to complain about. But.. some responses a bit overly aggressive. Not necessarily helpful.

[Bluerevolution]

DHFC fans ARE respectful of the neighbours, if noise complaints have been made they haven't been passed on. Evening games are mostly finished by 2140 so well within noise remits.

[DulwichGlobetrotter]

I agree there are some very unfortunate comments on this thread. Some are aggressive; others are divisive and patronising.

I wouldn't want to point out which are which. I'm sure readers can identify that and maybe the posters in question might, in future, take a deep breath and re-think their comments before pressing the post message button...

It does seem interesting (to me anyway!) that the original poster created their account to start this thread and seems to know more about the DH plans than most... Again, make your own minds up readers...

[Grok]

Are you serious? Apply your theory to the hundreds of grounds around the UK with much larger capacities and 'noise'. How do you think they manage?!

James, I suspect you are stirring for personal reasons as you have done previously on M&S, CPZ, Gated Melbourne, Firework threads etc. It is public knowledge you are a Champion Hill resident, is this why?

You have stated that the council noise team have had complaints, ok, provide the dates, times and nature of the complaints please?

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm agog if genuine fans of DHFC imperil the

> future of their club by being obnoxious to

> neighbours of the club on this forum and this

> thread.

> The clubs future depends on goodwill from

> neighbours. I know the Southwark noise team (020

> 7525 57770 receive a number of complaints about

> evening matches and the noise generated.

[Laddy Muck]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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> I thought you were usually inside the ground Laddy

> when this is going on.

:)) (tu)

(and Merry Christmas, Doc!)

[Inbetweener]

As a lifelong Dulwich Hamlet supporter of over forty years man and boy , and also a current Club Committee member, I have watched this thread, with much credulity.

A person made a post about drums at a game when I can assure you there were NO DRUMS AT THIS MATCh, and there very rarely are. And if there are, noise at a football match...so what?

For a local councillor to suggest calling in noise abatement teams without checking on knowing facts, based on a rumour started on a local internet forum, seriously calls me into question his credibility to serve the people he purports to represent, namely the local residents in his ward!

If Councillor Barber wishes to contact me I am more than happy to arrange for him to be Boardroom guest at any future home Dulwich Hamlet match of his choice, so he can see exactly how 'noisy' it is.

How dare our crowds blossom from a home league average of a mere 180 in the 2009/10 season to over a thousand last season?

Crowds that boost not just The Hamlet, but the entire immediate local economy. Ask the chip shop at the bottom of the hill, how much of a boost the club is to them..so much so, that they have re-named their business after the Club! Or the Cherry Tree, where our fans flock before and after matches, not to mention other local food & drink establishments, visited by visiting fans too.

Our crowds do back our team, but we do so in a welcoming friendly way, never abusing players because of their colour, or having tired, sexist, or homophobic chants that football grounds are stereotyped for.

We do a huge amount of good work in the local community, as I am sure Cllr. Barber is aware of...and the vast majority of the local community supports, with many doing so by coming along on matchdays, and if that means a bit of noise while a game is going on...then so be it. Personally, I've never enjoyed a positive matchday atmosphere in all my years, than at a Dulwich Hamlet home game now.

Perhaps he can work together with his LibDem colleagues on the council in the South Bermondsey area, to start a campaign at Millwall on noise abatement and see how far he gets.

A vibrant, noisy but fun matchday at a local club like Dulwich Hamlet should be something for all local councillors to be proud of, not knock...based on internet hearsay & a made-up rumour.

[BrandNewGuy]

Hear, hear!

[DuncanW]

How many evening games would there typically be in a season out of interest?

[????]

I just find it incredulous that people are complaining about the noise from an occasional evening game at a club which offers so much to the community in multiple ways, beyond belief. Move to a Surrey village you Malvolians

[Laddy Muck]

???? Wrote:

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> Move to

> a Surrey village you Malvolians

I've no idea what a Malvo-wotsit is...but tee hee... (tu)

[Mugglesworth]

If the OP was a troll then bravo to them for notching up three pages on the back of one opening comment and one reply.

If the OP was airing a genuine complaint, then their using the noise abatement hotline is not a bad idea from James. That team will meter the actual sound levels and be able to state objectively whether there is a case to answer. Phantom drums and whether it's a "school night" would not come into it, as James must know but is not acknowledging. Dark threats about supporters imperilling the future of the club are, I suggest, simply histrionics.

16 years ago, I chose to buy a house that is close to a pub that has been in existence for a very long time. Rarely, that pub has DJs playing and will do so this New Year's Eve. Most people's concept of "neighbourly" includes the concept of "live and let live" and, if I were to complain in those circumstances, I don't think that would be very neighbourly of me.

[steveo]

BANG, BOOM, BANGALAM, BASH, CRASH, WALLOP!