Dulwich forced to look for new home for rest of season
CRISIS club Dulwich Hamlet will make a decision tonight over where to play the rest of their games this season.
The club, who last night moved to the top of the Bostik Premier Division with a 3-1 win at Billericay Town, have had their licence to play at Champion Hill terminated with immediate effect following a lengthy spat with stadium owners Meadow Residential LLP.
Dulwich Hamlet officials are in negotiations with league rivals Tooting & Mitcham United, as well as Carshalton Athletic, about a possible groundshare for their remaining six games of the season.
A meeting will be held tonight where an official decision is expected to be made for the rest of their
2017-18 campaign. The beleaguered side’s troubled season off the pitch has taken a turn for the worse during the course of this week.
As well as being effectively booted out of Champion Hill, they were also hit with a bill of £121,000 by Meadow and a potential winding-up order.
They also received a letter from law firm Blake Morgan on behalf of Greendales IP LLC, an off-shoot of Meadow, stating that the club could no longer use its name with Greendales having registered the trademarks Dulwich Hamlet Football Club, The Hamlet and DHFC back in October 2017.
Dulwich Hamlet chairman Liam Hickey today said, “I’m still trying to work out the logic of it”, calling it a new low for the club in their frayed relations with Meadow.
But Hickey said he had been buoyed by the reaction from within football.
“We all have our rivalries but, when things really go wrong even if it’s a rival club, it’s amazing how strongly the football community rallies around, which has been the case here,” he said.
Meadow defended its latest move, saying it had come as a result of “unwarranted personal attacks on the company”, although Dulwich Hamlet officials pointed out the trademarks had been registered four months ago.
The row looks likely to drag on. Meadow have been planning a £80million housing development on the site of Champion Hill since buying the stadium four years ago for £5.7m. That build has currently been blocked by Southwark Council, which has also been investigating the possibility of buying the Champion Hill site.