Dulwich Hamlet vs. Hampton & Richmond Borough

Dulwich Hamlet vs. Hampton & Richmond Borough
Ryman League Premier Division
Saturday 10th March 2001
Match Postponed Due To Waterlogged Pitch

Dulwich chairman Martin Eede was left fuming after Saturday’s home Ryman League fixture with Hampton was postponed due to a totally unplayable waterlogged pitch – the first this has happened this season. Whilst other clubs have struggled with frost, floods and the rest, Champion Hill has been the envy of other groundsman with the only other first team game to succumb being a Full Members Cup tie with Basingstoke.
The main target of Chairman Eede’s ire was the Southern Youth League who had decided that in order to catch up with lost fixtures its member teams should play double headers where possible. He was particularly irate due to the SYL’s decision to make the visitors responsible only for the match officials’ fees, but not for the cost of floodlights, hospitality, matchballs and possible repairs to the pitch. Thanks to this decree Dulwich Youth Team found themselves taking on Woking in two one-hour matches last Wednesday (28th February), which combined with a non-stop downpour on Thursday left the usually pristine sward looking like the Somme circa 1915, with large patches of standing water that left the groundsman unable to get on the pitch to mark it out. Following further precipitation, a referee’s inspection saw the game was called off at midday on the Saturday. It is now hoped that the game will be played on Tuesday 20th March. Both teams were probably grateful for the postponement – Hampton having just returned from a 6-1 hammering away to Alicante and Dulwich with a number of players on the treatment table, although other results in the division see Dulwich now some 12 points (four victories) from safety. Carshalton Athletic and Grays both picked up all three points with Mervin Abraham getting the first in a 2-0 victory for the Essex men and former Dulwich reserve Bronek Dabrowa grabbing the winner for the Robins. Elsewhere local rivals Croydon FC slipped deeper into the mire where Richard Thompson and Omari Coleman (2), both ex-Dulwich, found the net but could not avert a 7-3 hammering at Hitchin.