Walton 0 Dulwich Hamlet 3
Just when i was getting excited about watching Walton again, as Rochdale seemed a little too far to travel today to watch Brentford, they go and lose two games in a week without scoring a goal. In mitigation on tuesday night Whitehawk were a good team, maybe one of the most accomplished teams at this level I had seen for some while, and Dulwich also sit near the top of the table. The game started brightly and for the first half for 43 minutes Walton were on top but without looking like scoring and the game changed with Dulwich scoring a penalty just before half-time. The second half was dull and Dulwich always looked like scoring more goals, whereas Walton looked like their players had never met before. the Walton players who caught the eye were Rodney Chiweshe, the keeper, and Adriano Moraes playing in midfield, who I learned by eavesdropping, he is Romanian and 33 yrs old and played profesionally there.
The main talk however at the club is about the council forcing them to move grounds. Put simply it seems the club thought they had a deal whereby a few houses were built on some of the land, the athletics club moved out to a new stadium ( funded by said houses ) and the ground was essentially rebuilt and modernised. Not much has happened to modernise the ground in the last 50 years – no exagerration there either. The council want Walton to move in with their Ryman League neighbours Walton Casuals , and that ground will be improved. In the clubhouse for the next month there is a model of the proposed amends to to the existing site and petitions to be signed and forms to be filled in. On balance I dont want the club to move and the online petition can be found at http://www.waltonandhershamfc.org.uk/thefuture. The club can be emailed at waltonandhershamfc@yourshout.org with any comments or questions. There however is another side of the coin. Crowds at Walton have been poor for years reflecting a number of poor seasons with sides that change almost weekly giving no real consistency for fans. There also seems to have been little attempt by the club to make links with other local sides in the league to get players on loan. Finally I have not seen any efforts to really try and increase crowd size, like free entry for children or any other campaigns to get Walton noticed. So, we have a club that gets crowds of around 100, with playing staffs changing monthly, towards the lower end of the league in a ground with poor facilities ( like an almost total absence of toilets). Despite these foibles I am very fond of Walton having seen them since 5 years old and recall well David Bassett and others playing for them.
Anyway, make your own mind up , but I would like them to stay. But the deal is this for my support. Please dont just recycle the same 3 songs before the game and at half time! If you want some music just ask me and I can put some on a disc or whatever suits! I think we had Sweet Child of Mine twice or three times today. Lastly, they do have the best burger van i know of. It is well worth eating your tea there, burger and chips at very reasonable prices!
Rodney Chiweshe beaten by penaltyStompond Lane home of Walton and HershamTerraceMain stand at Stompond LaneCurious clearance from dulwich defenderMichael Gordon, interesting winger and great hairstyleWhat happened next when rodney missed the punch?
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 