you're sort of missing the point here though - hardly any working-class people in South London would play rugby. if they did they would be an outlier. same as the fans. in wales and parts of west country lots of working-class people would play rugby and not football. that's the difference.
DHFC v Chippenham Town, Sat 29th April 2023
- Thread starter Moroccan Sunset
- Start date
I was good friends with David Penhaligon's son, that December was just awful. Love St Just Feast by the way. Am not at all embarrassed about the town I grew up in at all, am pleased I did as it gives you the perspective that not everyones life chances are the same, which is a useful thing to learn early in life. Kind of gives you some empathy and sympathy for people. You know the town i grew up in, you don't get many champagne socialists from there or even champagne. You started railing about us being a political club but now seem to come across as quite political yourself. So don't really understand what your initial grievance was about that?
barnsleydulwich
Active Member
Did you not get in then?
I'm sure you were as quick to take your own fans to task when there were several cases of homophobic chanting at your home games this season.
That is the queue to buy the few tickets left to buy on the day.
The majority of tickets are sold online.
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
People with advance tickets (and season ticket holders) could still turn up after that. I arrived about 2.20pm. I remember a comment suggesting the ground was full (i.e. 3,000 people physically inside) by 1pm, which wasn't the case.
Hamlet Pete
Well-Known Member
At Chippenham last season four or so kids were behind their own goal and asked us what the score was, knowing full well Chippenham were 2-0 up. It made us feel sad...
Steve Deltasix
Member
Quade was injured Saturday with his hip, had a nice chat with him after the game
Steve Deltasix
Member
Sounds a jealous comment, how do know Hak won’t stay have you spoke to him ??
chips and ham
New Member
Pink yes ill leave you to your own, I have never gone on any other clubs site but Saturday was unlike any before.
You are certainly different in someways and maybe if you had to play clubs like Aldershot, Oldham, Scunthorpe, Hartlepool even Yeovil or stayed if you went up may not have suited your ethos?
Their supporters large in number very vociferous and of an attitude in thought and mind that some of you would clearly not appreciate.
Maybe the Ismithian or NLS might be a natural sealing to suit your following.
Which whatever you think is quite different from most football clubs and if it suits you all fine and dandy.
Its just playing or watching ive never seen a club roll over on such an important day and i felt sorry for your manager.
Good luck and Good health
Steph
You are certainly different in someways and maybe if you had to play clubs like Aldershot, Oldham, Scunthorpe, Hartlepool even Yeovil or stayed if you went up may not have suited your ethos?
Their supporters large in number very vociferous and of an attitude in thought and mind that some of you would clearly not appreciate.
Maybe the Ismithian or NLS might be a natural sealing to suit your following.
Which whatever you think is quite different from most football clubs and if it suits you all fine and dandy.
Its just playing or watching ive never seen a club roll over on such an important day and i felt sorry for your manager.
Good luck and Good health
Steph
Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
We've played Yeovil 10 times and Aldershot 6 times before in league matches. Have you? Don't come on here patronising us with your sanctimonious bullshit, telling us what it's like to play big clubs. You can fuck right off.
tonysingh
Random Clever and Witty Strapline
Unlike you to be angry. Thought that was my job
Eastbourne fan here. Just thought I'd pop in to say it's a shame to lose you from the division, always enjoyed a visit to Champion Hill - even if it is bulging at the seams and takes a while to get a beer! Always felt welcome and I can't for the life of me see how politics would affect performances on the pitch and why it's necessary to bring it up.. but I suppose some people have an axe to grind? Good luck in the Isthmian and hope you bounce back soon.
Moroccan Sunset
Well-Known Member
Yeh I wondered if we could replicate the roof that's now over the big outside bar over the two ends. I have no idea how expensive that would be, but would make a helluva difference to the Rabble volume, I'm sure.
Give me 616 hardy blue collar workers, fresh from their shift at the local turnip mine, any day.
Paula_G
Flitting in & out like Tinkerbell on Meth
I have family that still live in that part of Cornwall. I’ve never quite understood the need to equate support for a football club with the class of its supporters. Personally I like to think of myself as “all class & no class”. There’s East End dockers, lightermen and merchant seamen in recent family tree as well as some pretty insalubrious publicans from Erith & Southfleet in there. On the other side my uncle’s father was Vice Marshall of the RAF & his mother a Bonham-Carter. Sadly I have never played top flight for anyone. As for the club’s “politics” if raising money for the homeless, the elderly and refugees, collecting for local food banks, supporting Trade Unions representing the heroic essential workers people clapped for during the pandemic as well as opening up football to LGBTQI+ people who still feel unwelcome on the pitch and the terraces, indeed those of us whose very participation in football is being weaponised by politicians and the media, is an anathema to fans like this “Chippenham Supporter” then I for one would be happy never to have to cross their path again.
Paula_G
Flitting in & out like Tinkerbell on Meth
They aren’t going to find too many “poshoes” down at Hellfire Corner on a Saturday afternoon at the Rec!!
editor
hiraethified
I raised this about 8 years ago and suggested that even the cheapest of temporary scaffolding roofs would make a real difference to the atmosphere and comfort of fans.
I was pretty much shot down in flames for the suggestion so my eyebrow arched skyward at a Spock-like speed when there was suddenly no problem fitting in a comparatively huge covered area for the bar.
Oh, where from? Never look up or down to anyone. He annoyed me because his type of inverted snobbery is actually quite damaging to poorer areas. It leads to people in Cornwall voting for Brexit despite having large areas improved beyond imagination by EU money. It's just self-harm.
Paula_G
Flitting in & out like Tinkerbell on Meth
We tried a fundraising scheme for something similar about 20 years ago but the money from that ended up being swallowed by day to day bills as so much did back then. The reasoning against any temporary cover behind the goals always seemed to be that the new stadium would be started “soon”
I hate Redruth
Paula_G
Flitting in & out like Tinkerbell on Meth
One sister lives in Redruth, another in Camelford, several nephews and nieces in Bodmin. Sisters are fortunate that they purchased property before those skyrocketed and priced locals out of the market.
editor
hiraethified
Yet it's never too soon for the huge bar shelter!
Paula_G
Flitting in & out like Tinkerbell on Meth
I’ll stay schtum on that front.
Lucky them. Cornwall is an ugly picture surrounded by a beautiful frame these days, if that makes sense.
Let's try to unpick this drivel which is so at odds with so many away fans who generally find our fans welcoming, non confrontational and where they are their team don't face abuse.
I must admit though you would have needed a JCB to lift that lot, You need a clear out to many people in there for the money and dont care. This has been going on with you lot for a while now.
I am sure we can agree that some of our team are not the characters to fight to stay up and were a major disappointment. By the way, how do you know which players are on what money? All things are relative and London is an expensive place to live so I am sure we pay a slight premium at times. However, is our team funded by cashflow or is it propped up by a rich benefactor. Whilst the Chippenham Town FC accounts are very lacking in detail, it is clear they are run at a consistent deficit.
Its time you on pitch matters were put first and politics be put on the backburner and perhaps you need a few people on you trust who know about the playing side?
The club is run by a board of Directors and not the Trust, they are the second biggest shareholder. How much of your club do the fans own? You are, as usual, equating politics with social values. Please enlighten me what you saw from the club that was political. If it's the songs about Tories, that's the fans not the club. However, London is not a Tory city (like most cities).
If you mean supporting refugees, foodbanks, being against any form of discrimination etc. I believe that's just "doing the right thing" and it's only seen as political because one party hates anybody in those groups & has made their lives difficult if not impossible.
Something we noticed is home a fair percentage of your support on the day and reading this thread weren't / arent too bothered you were relegated? The conversation is more were can the children kick a ball during the game?
I can tell you we would have been and maybe thats the difference between us , Weymouth,Dover and Concord and some of you? We want to win ?
This was in your hands you only needed a point regardless!
The match experience at Champion Hill attracts so many different people entirely because it is not a "typical" football crowd full of angry people getting hyper aggressive about a game. The acceptance of our relegation was hard for many of us to take, but it did not, thankfully, lead to aggressive behaviour, violence and insulting people on or off the pitch. I have been a fan over 50 years, put in thousands of hours with the club and was/am very disappointed. However, it's a game, nobody died or got hurt. It's the match experience that brings people through the gate, not a chance to "let off steam" at all and sundry. It's for precisely that reason that over 3000 people attend regularly.
Healthy debate about how kids can enjoy a game and what people would like to see have been important in growing crowds. What is unique about Chippenham Town? What does it stand for? How does it reflect its community and so things that make it such an important part which is on the front of the shirt)?
You are the strangest team we've encountered a strong but not that vociferous crowd. A political club in many regards unlike many some of your fans at home are not the friendliest.
I do not mean aggressive i mean arrogant middle class, I played high grade rugby down home in Cornwall in the front row and met a few just the same. I find being polite to them does the trick they dont know how to react.
So many clichés in one sentence. Who was rude to you & what were you doing if they were? Did you get hassled because you had different colours on? You'll really enjoy Yeovil & Taunton if you are easily offended. By the way, I come from Dulwich and grew up on a south London housing estate so I don't think I am middle class and never will. I try to treat people with respect, but it very much depends how they treat me. Seems you arrived with a preconception you so wanted to be true and many of your comments are from a position of thinking you know both what we are and what you think is right. I have news for you. we know that we get things wrong but we also know we do a hell of a lot right. That's why over 1000 more people per game come to Champion Hill than anywhere else in the league.
We cheered loudly at the end because we won as one of your contributors asked why? We are a far more blue collar fan base than you and perhaps thats why it matters so much to us.Than to some of your fanbase? Whatever direction your fanbase wants to go i wish you good luck.
Good on you for cheering when you win, do you boo when you lose? I am happy when we win, I moan when we lose. It matters to me but in the end it's only a game. Have you had to step up and save your club, thousands did that for us yet you feel that it doesn't matter to them. Their attendance alone says it matters so if attendances are the measure, it matters more for our fans to have their club than it does yours. I don't believe that for a moment, but your one dimensional view is just so frustrating. My friends at Dulwich vary across every aspect of society from my own background to people who are very comfortably off. That's south London and our crowds very much represent every part of the local area, just like the club's values and support for various causes does. What does your club stand for? Are you happy to see people harmed by promoting the constant stream of available betting? Or is the money all that counts?
A club like yours with a 2000 plus fan base should be doing much better in all honesty?
Do you have any idea of the costs of a stadium in Zone 2 London that requires constant repair? What about business rates on the site? Should we just accept we need a benefactor to keep injecting money or try to run it like a proper business that lives on what it earns? What would happen if your owner decided to spend no money of his own?
On travelling to your place it wasnt easy and driving is impossible with the ridiculous tax to come in and out of the metropolis. We've got Yeovil now instead on our tiny budget its a miracle we stay up we are a well managed club on and off the pitch.
The ridiculous tax is there to stop people from polluting London as much as possible. You only pay it if you drive a car that is non compliant. Did you pay it? Was the only route available to drive across that area of London?
You seem convinced about your "tiny" budget. Are you the person who thinks it's £2000 per week somebody else mentioned? What is tiny, because our budget is tiny compared to Ebbsfleet. Why do you equate income to wages. I bet the % of money we spend on wages versus the total income is amongst the lowest anywhere in football. What % of your income goes on wages?
Your club needs to decide what it actually wants to be?
It wants to be exactly what it is, but with on field success. A club that attracts its support from across the breadth of people from all walks that make up the local area, that supports the causes that matter to local people. It wants to welcome everybody who feels they want to engage with the club, however that may be. It will not tolerate discriminatory language or actions. It wants women to feel comfortable and relaxed within it, a place where families come together and all can enjoy a day out. It wants to win football matches and move forward, but not at the expense of all else.
In closing I will throw the question back - what does Chippenham Town FC want to be? Do you even know?
chips and ham
New Member
Swearing that says alot about you and why your club is what it is
