Hamlet v Whitehawk (Isthmian League) Saturday 09.03.24

[Alex W]

The absolute maximum is obviously not down to the club, but I understand the figure approved by Southwark Council is currently higher than 3,334 and it is the club's choice not to go above 3 334. I assume the people advocating an even lower capacity will be happy to miss out when fewer tickets are available?

I still haven't forgotten how depressing it was to see as few as 150 people scattered around Champion Hill for Isthmian Division 1 South matches on a Saturday afternoon. Personally I'd rather tolerate the inconvenience of queues and not being able to sit/stand exactly where I want than go back to that.

I know a few regulars who don't go when they think the attendance will be above 3,000, which is a real shame, especially when we're losing loyal and devoted fans for one-off visitors and stag-dos. It's not that the queues are an inconvenience, it's that people feel uncomfortable and genuinely unsafe (which ideally, no one should feel at any football ground).

But ultimately, the new stadium is the solution to that problem. If we can't go below 3,334 for financial reasons, and we just have to lump it for a few more years, so be it.

 

[editor]

The absolute maximum is obviously not down to the club, but I understand the figure approved by Southwark Council is currently higher than 3,334 and it is the club's choice not to go above 3 334. I assume the people advocating an even lower capacity will be happy to miss out when fewer tickets are available?

I still haven't forgotten how depressing it was to see as few as 150 people scattered around Champion Hill for Isthmian Division 1 South matches on a Saturday afternoon. Personally I'd rather tolerate the inconvenience of queues and not being able to sit/stand exactly where I want than go back to that.

I'd just like a decent view and the opportunity to walk about and say hello to some friends but those things are mutually exclusive when there's over 3,000 people there.

 

[blueheaven]

But ultimately, the new stadium is the solution to that problem. If we can't go below 3,334 for financial reasons, and we just have to lump it for a few more years, so be it.

Will the new stadium actually make much of a difference to this issue? What's the current expected capacity for the new ground? I thought it wasn't going to be much bigger than the current one.

 

[Pink Panther]

Will the new stadium actually make much of a difference to this issue? What's the current expected capacity for the new ground? I thought it wasn't going to be much bigger than the current one.

4,000 capacity, around 20% more seats, 7-8 steps of terracing around 3 sides with a walkway around the top, similar to Dartford, so better sightlines.

 

[Al Cunningham]

I think Ben said at the last forum that progress should have been made on the new ground development before the next Fans Forum in April so fingers crossed that there will be some positive news to share

 

[Alex W]

4,000 capacity, around 20% more seats, 7-8 steps of terracing around 3 sides with a walkway around the top, similar to Dartford, so better sightlines.

If anyone has any renders or details of the 3 terraced sides saved in a folder somewhere, it would be very interesting to see it - most of the imagery I've seen focuses on the club house.

From memory, it's something like 6 or 8 steps?

Dartford is a good reference, but "a modernised St Albans" sounds like a decent description too.

 

[blueheaven]

4,000 capacity, around 20% more seats, 7-8 steps of terracing around 3 sides with a walkway around the top, similar to Dartford, so better sightlines.

I can see a 4,000 stadium being filled to capacity pretty much as soon as it opens, given that crowds are already often at around 3,300 and there'll be extra enthusiasm from people to visit the new ground. Not sure it's going to do much to alleviate anyone's concerns about overcrowding at the current ground. Better sightlines would definitely be a big improvement though.

 

[Alex W]

I can see a 4,000 stadium being filled to capacity pretty much as soon as it opens, given that crowds are already often at around 3,300 and there'll be extra enthusiasm from people to visit the new ground. Not sure it's going to do much to alleviate anyone's concerns about overcrowding at the current ground. Better sightlines would definitely be a big improvement though.

It should actually do an awful lot to avoid overcrowding as the main issues are currently caused by large areas of the ground being flat, stepped terraces being too shallow, and walkways being used to watch the game. The new ground should fix all of that.

There will be a challenge in fitting in bars, food (and presumably loos), but I know the club is also exploring some kind of fan zone* extending onto the St Saviours' & Olaves ground where the training pitch currently is.

I just hope we can add some nice acoustics-improving corrugated iron roofs to the plans ;-)

*Very cringe name, but you know the concept

 

[liamdhfc]

It should actually do an awful lot to avoid overcrowding as the main issues are currently caused by large areas of the ground being flat, stepped terraces being too shallow, and walkways being used to watch the game. The new ground should fix all of that.

There will be a challenge in fitting in bars, food (and presumably loos), but I know the club is also exploring some kind of fan zone* extending onto the St Saviours' & Olaves ground where the training pitch currently is.

I just hope we can add some nice acoustics-improving corrugated iron roofs to the plans ;-)

*Very cringe name, but you know the concept

I believe getting any permanent structures on parts built on Metroplitan Open Land will initially be difficult so any cover will have to be of a temporary nature.

 

[Alex W]

I believe getting any permanent structures on parts built on Metroplitan Open Land will initially be difficult so any cover will have to be of a temporary nature.

I believe that Imperial Fields is MOL, but they still have cover behind the goal - is that correct? If so, it suggests that while it might be a massive pain in the arse to get approved, it wouldn't be impossible.

 

[Pink Panther]

I believe that Imperial Fields is MOL, but they still have cover behind the goal - is that correct? If so, it suggests that while it might be a massive pain in the arse to get approved, it wouldn't be impossible.

I can't recall the precise details regarding Imperial Fields, although I do know it was the Crystal Palace FC training ground for many years before it was built in 2002, and I believe the roof design at each end (with no rear walls between the roof and terrace) was some sort of aesthetic requirement of planning permission being granted.

I think we just need to get the ground built, then push for any improvements we feel we need. It's taken a huge effort just to get to where we are right now. We could easily have found ourselves homeless altogether after the events of 2018, doomed to the sort of zombie existence Kingstonian now have, stuck at Tooting with a diminishing fanbase. (That's if the club had survived at all.)

It is frustrating that there are so many obstacles to achieving our potential. I've been saying for years we could be as big as Wimbledon if we had the same sized ground. They're now getting around 8,000 for every game in the Fourth Division, which is what the original club was getting the year they won the FA Cup, and about three times what that club was getting when they first got into the Football League a decade before that.

 

[Alex W]

I can't recall the precise details regarding Imperial Fields, although I do know it was the Crystal Palace FC training ground for many years before it was built in 2002, and I believe the roof design at each end (with no rear walls between the roof and terrace) was some sort of aesthetic requirement of planning permission being granted.

That would be an appropriate embodiment of the absurdities of current English planning rules because, of course, the lack of a back wall makes bugger all difference to anyone apart from fans getting soaked when there's a downpour with a strong wind!

 

[jimbarkanoodle]

I just wonder what happens if or when the 'competitive budget' pays off, and Hamlet get promoted to a division where the matches can no longer be treated as a big beer garden for pint swilling chums discussing jobs, university days and skiing trips, with a side show of football. £7.50 pints and a massive clubhouse?

 

[Paula_G]

and presumably loos

From what I’ve been told the new ground will have provision for gender neutral toilets, which should go some way to alleviating the ridiculous queues for the female toilets with (excluding the Glastonbury Experience portaloos) I believe 5 stalls across the entire stadium. It should also go some way to pissing off East Dulwich’s resident Ubertërf who still turns up at games if the presence of transphobic stickers seems to attest to. Better accessible toilets would be such a boon too as with just the one in the whole facility doubling up as a baby change it’s rarely available.