DULWICH HAMLET FOOTBALL CLUB Champion Hill Stadium, Edgar Kail Way, East Dulwich, SE22 8BD Redacted Minutes of the Football Committee Meeting Held in the Boardroom, Champion Hill Stadium Thursday 30th March 2017 Meeting opened at 7.33pm Chairman: Liam Hickey Also present: Andy Greig; John Leahy (Vice-Chair); John Lawrence; Mishi Morath; George Parnavelas; Chris Taylor. 1] Apologies for absence: Received from Tom Cullen; Shaun Dooley; Martin Eede; George Parnavelas; Paul Griffin. 2] Approval of minutes: Both the full and redacted minutes from the
last meeting were approved. 3] Matters arising from the minutes. There were no immediate matters arising. Any minor points arising would be discussed during the rest of the meeting, where relevant. 4] Alex Atack: Alex was attending the meeting tonight as a guest, both to talk about the work the Trust does, and to see how the Football Committee side of things work. Liam Hickey thanked her for accepting his invite, and coming to meeting. She spoke of the work the Trust is doing in engaging with Meadows, the owners; as well as potential ground partner as well as the work the Trust have been putting in to support the new ground development application, such as engaging with local councillors. 5] Club Shop MOU with the Trust: There was a discussion on whether an actual contract should be drawn up, rather than a memorandum of understanding, and it was felt that a MOU was more than sufficient, in the spirit of what it was intended for. It was felt there wouldn t really be any circumstances where the Trust would want to change the agreement in the near future. The profit share agreement from the agreement would go a long way toward funding the excellent DH-TV service. The Trust logo will be carried on the site as an advert for the length of the agreement. 6] Season ticket and admission costs 2017/18: Liam had been trying to get an agreement for prices next season, as a matter of urgency. VAT was a big issue, as the way the Club as a business is divided up, there is nothing that it can really be offset against. VAT is currently swallowed up by the Club. We would agree to a 1 increase to 11, if we stay in the Ryman League, and a 2 increase if we were to get promoted to the National
League South. Concessions we would want kept as cheap as possible, and this would be a one pound increase to 5, which would still make us among the cheapest, and certainly most wide-ranging. We need to sort out season ticket prices that are agreeable to the owners, to try to keep them as low as possible, whilst accepting that an increase is inevitable. Discussion followed about online sales, booking fees, and the various merits of them. It was also felt strongly that we must keep the option for supporters to pay in three instalments, as well as having the pay-your-age for children, during the early bird offer. Liam will confirm the prices with Meadows and then get them onto the website and other social media as soon as possible. 7] Red Nose Day/Ryman Community Day: This is scheduled for the match against Billericay Town. We have this already scheduled for a collection, but will be working on publicising the Ryman Community Day. George will be inviting schools as part of our regular community programme. This day is probably not aimed at the few clubs like ourselves who are already very pro-active in their local community. 8] Charity events. We are holding a kit collection, as mentioned at previous meetings, when we play Lowestoft Town. And Football Beyond Borders will be holding their last bucket collection of the season against Grays Athletic on Easter Monday. 9] End of season awards: There was the possibility of an end-of-season event, but with the huge fixture backlog and the availability of players if we make the play-offs, this might not be
possible to fit in. It was agreed to make the Supporters Player of the Year & Club awards on the pitch at the end of the Grays Athletic match. It was agreed that Andy, on behalf of the Committee, and Alex, on behalf of the Trust, meet with Chris to try to see if an event was feasible. 10] Chris Taylor A/L: Chris gave the dates of his summer holidays, once the season was over, and he was due a lot of leave, but would be back by the time the new season started. The dates being 31 st July to 10 th August incl. 11] Stadium issues: If anyone spots anything that they think needs work done to then please email Chris. It was suggested we could put out an appeal to fans, for a workday sort of thing in the close season, to tidy up the ground, once tasks had been gathered. 14] Secretary/Manager liaison: This is still something that needs to be addressed, as we need to find someone to share the workload, and deal with the on-going problem. Andy suggested advertising the role, but it was felt that first we need to know what skills are needed, is there any financial reimbursement and does anyone have anyone in mind. John Lawrence said that the task he had carried out to help Martin were very time consuming, and one he could not really continue to do, especially with the cricket season on the horizon. The meeting expressed their gratitude at all of the hard work he has done by stepping into the breach. 15] Commercial: Liam brought to the table the suggestion of offering a monthly payment package for advertising boards and programme advertising, that would appeal to smaller businesses. Liam said he would still pursue the idea, as he felt it could attract much more advertising than we currently have from the local area.
16] Stewarding: Liam said the stewarding had got better, and Chris said that the consistency was generally ok. It was mentioned that there are still some stewards who tend to look at the game more that keeping an eye on fans, and congestion. Yellow hatching around the ground needs to be reviewed as well. Liam concluded that the stewarding system is quite good, just needs a bit of tweaking. 17] Football Beyond Borders: They are holding a big all-day fundraiser on Sunday 7 th May, to conclude our year-long partnership with them. This day will culminate with a celebrity charity match at around 5.30pm. It is hoped they will have a really successful day, with a decent crowd for the main event. 18] Any Other Business: Primo: Mentioned the dress code in the Boardroom on matchdays, as he felt standards were slipping and we all had to be more vigilant. He also expressed praise of the work everyone put in when we hosted Macclesfield Town, who were extremely appreciative of the hospitality and friendly welcome shown. Andy: Said he was hopeful of arranging a pre-season trip to Bromsgrove Sporting, which would be a two day Saturday/Sunday trip. He said Gavin was extremely positive about the potential trip. Alex: She thanked the Committee for inviting her and allowing her to join in the discussion. It was good to see things moving forward, with co-operation better between our two groups. Date of next meeting: Provisionally due to be Thursday 20 th April, due to potential play-off dates and the London Senior Cup fixtures.