Sitting in the stand, cheering us all on back on the 12th of May,were Hamlet fans Steve Baker & his mum Claire.
We asked them what they thought of the day & here's what Steve said:
"My mum thought it was really enjoyable day. The atmosphere was friendly, so much so that she wants to be added to Andys DHSFC e-mailing grouping. So if the weather's good you might have her cheering you on from the touchline at Belair Park next season.
The National anthems were good, they struck me (whilst adding a professional touch) as being more of a humerous touch (the joke being that no-one expected such a level of professionalism) so to me it seemed immediately funny.
The programme was a great read, and the colour cover was superb!
The referee seemed to be an amicable gentleman, this undoubtedly added to the friendly atmosphere, can you imagine what it would have been like if he'd been a bit of a cretin?
The football was devoid of any bookings, or even unsavoury incidents and appeared to be played in a good spirit.
The weather held up, but only just.
A humerous point, I suppose, was the announcement that the 'tea bar' was open, but then finding it was only selling burgers & sausages and not cups of rosy! What sort of impression was that to give to our 'Johnny Foreigner' guests...not even selling our own national drink?
It was nice to see some of the older Hamlet shirts being worn. The Pink 'n' Blue quarters, which was going back to the late nineties, I think.
At last I can put a face and a name to Mr. Onionbagblogger. Presumably he left early as he was due at a facny dress party as a 1960's Tour de France cyclist?
I personally achieved a little lifetimes ambition and sat on the actual Dulwich Hamlet First Team bench & couldn't resist the opportunity to give the dugout a Martin-Eede-style SLAP!!! It actually doesn't take that much effort to get the SLAP sound so reminiscent of seasons 2001/02 to 2005/06...
It was weird to see the curious (to a non-smoker) sight of several players who were substituted..and lighting up straight away on the touchline!
We both got obvious pleasure from seeing both sets of our visiting friends having such a good time.
It's mind boggling to see something that started off as an idea grow into a real event, and featured in 'Time Out' as well. In my view this tournament has the potential to grow...LARGE!
The only slight downer was that I was suffering from a bit of a cold, so didn't stay for the boozing in the bar afterwards.
Thank you to everyone who organised the day, it really was appreciated, and thanks for being invited down, pitchside, to sit in the dugout!
Roll on the second 'Pa' Wilson Cup! "
Nice words, thanks to Steve & Claire for letting us know how the day went for them.
" As a non-smoker, it was weird to see the curious sight of several players who were substituted... and lighting up straight away on the touchline! "
ReplyDeleteI'm just surprised they didn't notice it at half time....? For me a cigarette before the game is all part of the rituals, left boot on first etc.... But I must admit we do tend to spark up while the Gaffer is giving his pep talk. By my recollection there's normally only about 4 smokers in a squad..... me, the two that light up on the Pheep of the ref's whistle and The Borrower.
Every time I read about this bloody day I get more and more annoyed that I wasn't there.....