Roy Hodgson: Crystal Palace have ‘a lot of sympathy’ for Dulwich Hamlet over ground dispute

Roy Hodgson has said that Crystal Palace have “a lot of sympathy” with Dulwich Hamlet over their ground dispute, this after a fundraising friendly between the two south London sides ended in a 5-0 win for Palace.

Hamlet have been locked out of Champion Hill since March thanks to a long-running fall-out with owners Meadow Residential. Since the club were forced out of their historic home, local councillors, MPs and other clubs have rallied round to show their support for the cause.

On Thursday evening, Hamlet’s south London neighbours chipped in something extra. With Hamlet not contesting another home game until early next month and finances tight without the steady flow of gate money, Palace came to play at Imperial Fields – the ground Hamlet currently share with rivals Tooting & Mitcham United – with all proceeds going to the hosts.

Before the match, Palace chairman Steve Parish said in a statement that Palace wanted to “support a club whose treatment at the hands of property developers has been well documented in the press. As a club, we feel it’s important to support other teams in our patch who need our help.”

Though the game ended 5-0 to Palace in the lashing rain, with goals for Max Meyer, Sullay Kaikai, Connor Wickham, James Daly and Kian Flanagan, it was closer than the scoreline suggested and an attendance of 1,226 could be invaluable for Hamlet.

‘Here to support them’

Speaking to i after the final whistle, Hodgson was impressed with Palace’s sixth-tier opponents. Asked whether Hamlet had given his side a tough game, he said: “Of course they did, we are more than happy with that. We were here to support them, but we brought what I thought was a strong team and there were a lot of players out there tonight who I wanted to see play and hopefully admire their performances. They gave me the chance to do that.

“There were a lot of positives from our side and I would like to think it was positive for them. Dulwich got a good game out of it and they had to work very hard. I hope it doesn’t take too much out of them for their Saturday performance, though I fear it might.

“The crowd was excellent, they must be quite happy with a crowd of this size here and they’ve hopefully sold plenty of pies and pints of beer as well.

“Hopefully this will be a win-win situation. We’re happy the game passed off as it did, I feel the players did well to win the game, and we’re happy for Dulwich. They’re a near neighbour, and we have a lot of sympathy for them having lost their ground.”

The Hamlet & The Palace.

Thanks for having us this evening. Best of luck for the rest of the season! pic.twitter.com/m740IjXABT

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) October 11, 2018

Pride in clubs like Hamlet

Speaking about the importance of clubs like Hamlet to English football, Hodgson said: “It’s important for local communities that they have a club to support. The tradition of English football really embraces teams like Dulwich Hamlet, like Kingstonian, like Tooting & Mitcham. We embrace that, because for years and years and years these clubs have existed and have had a faithful following of a thousand, a couple of thousand fans.

“I think it’s important that [tradition] continues. It’s something we as a nation should be proud of.”