By Joe Townsend
On the 26 th of April, Dulwich Hamlet concluded their first season back in the Isthmian League Premier Division, after five years in the National League South. Despite at one point looking like flirting with the playoffs, their season ended with mid-table mediocrity, following a 6-2 drubbing by Bray Wanderers who were only a couple of places off relegation, albeit with a significantly superior points tally. The end of the season for the men’s squad doesn’t mirror that of the women’s team, who topped the London and South East Regional Women’s Premier Division, proving to be too much for title rivals Dartford, leading to promotion to the Women’s National League South East Division One.
That said, I was one of the sell-out crowd of 3,334, something they had achieved four times already that season, which in itself is highly impressive for a team in the 7 th division of English football (or step 3 of the National League pyramid). Unbeknown to me, part of that bumper crowd was a group of local refugees, invited to the final game of the season as a part of April’s ‘Football Welcomes’ month.
This is a program created by Amnesty International in 2017, which has drastically grown in popularity since. Whilst taking some inspiration from refugee football initiatives set up in Germany after German Prime Minister, Angela Merkel’s courageous refugee policy of 2015, the campaign has been developed by Amnesty and football teams across the country, boasting a membership size that includes the majority of the EFL. Those not signed up to the scheme often facilitate their own refugee football programs, such as my club Oxford United which has been running football activities for refugees since 2021, with the help of local charities Oxford United in the Community, Asylum Welcome, and Refugee Resource.
This was not simply a one-off example of community outreach by Dulwich Hamlet. Champion Hill was the venue for a match held between the Afghan Women’s National Team Development Squad and the UK Women’s Parliamentary Team in April 2022, not long after female footballers in Afghanistan were forced to leave their country due to the political instability resulting from Western nation’s botched withdrawal. The Hamlet are very much at the forefront of how modern clubs can not only highlight the impact football can have but also change some of the long-term negative associations that surround football. The club and its supporters trust continue to be strong allies of the LGBTQ+ community: fundraising, creating club initiatives, and generally raising awareness, most recently taking silver in the annual
Football v Homophobia campaign’s National League award. In fact, it was their third podium in a row, taking silver in 2023 and Gold in 2022. As you stroll around the ground it is impossible to miss the anti-racism, anti-homophobia, and anti- discrimination messages, spray painted and displayed across all four sides of ‘The Hill’.
There are many clubs higher up the football pyramid who could learn a thing or two from Dulwich Hamlet, a community institution that doesn’t just pay lip service to the positive impact that football can have, but backs it up with the actions of this increasingly inclusive club