Category: Club News

STRIKER – DID YOU HIT THE NET?

Latest Striker results for Wednesday 17th May

Congratulations to all the winners and better luck next time if your name wasn’t drawn out. It could well be your time next week.

For anyone who doesn’t know how the Striker Lottery works well let me explain if for you. Each week, so long as you have paid your £1 weekly subscription, your number will be entered into a draw. If your number is drawn, congratulations – you’re a winner! It’s as simple as that. The draw is held every Wednesday. Keep an eye on the website and social media pages for full details. Who knows, your number could scoop the £1,000 top prize.

Please note that only paid-for tickets are entered in the draw. For your convenience, your membership fee can be collected from you, or you can pay at the Club Office or, to save time, you can pay monthly or quarterly by standing order.

Contact [email protected] to register your interest and good luck.

THE BIG 4 0 – KIT LAUNCH

We unveil our new kit. 

This season sees Dover Athletic turn the big four zero, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary. And with such a big occasion we have decided to mark it with a special edition kit for the coming campaign. Dover Athletic took over from Dover FC after the club had run into massive debt and were dissolved in 1983. Athletic took over the mantle and replaced Dover in the Southern League and the rest is history, so they say.

There have been some fantastic highs in that period, as well as real lows as the club has continued to play its football at non league level. Some would argue that the golden period for the club was between the 2007-16 seasons when back to back promotions were secured from the Isthmian League to the Conference South (in old money) where eventually Chris Kinnear guided us back into the National League in 2014. The Whites beat Ebbsfleet United on their own patch courtesy of Nathan Elder’s thumping header in a 1-0 win.

Clinching promotion in 2014 via the play-offs – Photo Andy Payton

Just two seasons later and the club were in touching distance of the Football League, only to be denied by eventual winners of the play-offs, Forest Green. Chris Kinnear had two separate spells at the club and is arguably Dover’s greatest ever manager having guided the club to two titles in his first stint. The first in 1989/90 and the second in 1992/93. The Whites have had their fare share of colourful managers in the past with the likes of Peter Taylor, Clive Walker and Bill Williams, who guided us to within a whisker of Wembley, losing to Cheltenham Town in the FA Trophy semi-final back in 1997/98.

There have also been some magnificent cup runs, most notably in the FA Cup where the Whites have faced the likes of Oxford United, Aldershot, MK Dons, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace and who can forget when we went to Gillingham and turned them over.

The Whites face Crystal Palace in FA Cup Third round action. Photo – Getty Images

 

We are delighted to be working with our new kit partner VX3 with our bespoke 40th anniversary kit. – Jim Parmenter

As ever in football, we always look to move forward and what better way than this new edition shirt with the anniversary marking above the club crest.

Sizes and Price:

Adult shirt – £44 available in XS,S,M,L,XL,2XL,3XL & 4xL

Kids shirt – £37 available in 2,6,8,10 & 12 Years

You can now pre-order your shirt by contacting the office on 01304 822373. Once these are available, you will be able to purchase via the website or in the club shop, we assume this to be in June. You can still get your EARLY BIRD season tickets by clicking HERE.

Come on you 40 year old Whites.

RETAINED LIST 2023/24

Our retained list for the 2023/24 campaign. 

We now look ahead to another season in the Vanarama National League South. Things have been progressing behind the scenes as we build a new look team, ready to compete on the pitch at Crabble. The Gaffer has been busy trying to find the right pieces of the jigsaw and we will update you as and when we have news on new players coming through the door. Our retained list consists of:

  • Luke Baptiste
  • George Wilkinson
  • Geroge Nikaj
  • Freddie Oliver

 

Luke Baptiste skipping by a couple of challenges

With the U19’s winning the National League South last week, the manager will looking to add to his squad further with some of the young talent available. All other players are now out of contract and have left the club although we have spoken to a couple of which we wait a reply. We would like to thank all of our 2022/23 squad for its efforts and we wish you all well in the future, wherever that may be.

COYW.

SEASON TICKETS

DOVER ATHLETIC PRESENTS – OUR 40TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

Take advantage of our Early Bird prices.

Mitch Brundle’s Whites head into the 2023/24 Vanarama National South campaign and they want you to join them. Don’t miss a kick next season by grabbing yourself a season ticket and if purchased by the June cut off date, can net yourself a nifty saving. Season ticket prices have been frozen again this year so don’t delay, grab yours now. An Early Bird ticket means you can watch the Whites for as little as £10.86 per match and includes free seating in the respective areas.

Following Covid and the need to stabilise the football club in the last two seasons, we feel that now we can start to build again and we want you to be a part of that. We asked what it meant to still have a football club.


Below are the prices for the coming campaign and we hope that with you behind the team, we can kick on again. Thank you for your continued support during these tough times, we really do appreciate it.

COYW

Early Bird Prices:

Adult – £250

Concessions – Over 60’s – £214

Under 18’s – £50

After July 1st:

Adult – £331

Concessions – Over 60’s – £290

Under 18’s – £50

Pay on the Gate:

Adult – £17

Concessions – Over 60’s – £15

Under 18’s – £9

Under 11’s FREE with a paying adult.

All season tickets can be purchased by the following options:

  • Call the club office on 01304 822373 (option 2) to pay by card
  • Head up to the club office at Crabble between 9am-5pm (Monday-Friday) or on matchdays

 

HAVE YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS – 2023/24 SPONSOR OPPORTUNITIES

Take a look at our sponsorship opportunities for the 2023/24 campaign.

With the finale of the 2022/23 campaign now concluded, we look forward to another season in the Vanarama National South division with Mitch Brundle taking us forward. With things about to move in a positive manner on the pitch, why not come and join us off the pitch with an abundance of sponsorship opportunities available at the club. We have a range of ways to get your company name and brand advertised in both static and fluid form.

On our Home & Away kits we have the following opportunities available:

  • Shorts Sponsor
  • Back of Shirt Sponsor
  • Shirt Sleeve Sponsor
Have your company brand around the pitch at Crabble or on the stands

Around the ground we have the following:

  • Centre Spot – 37 Metre High Level Hoarding
  • River End – 24 Metre Hoarding
  • Dover End – 24 Metre Hoarding
  • VIP Area – 24 Metre High Level Hoarding

We also have many other exciting opportunities. All commercial sponsors receive two VIP season tickets as part of the package.

If you wish to express an interest and find out more information then don’t hesitate to contact Jim Parmenter on [email protected]

DOVER ATHLETIC 0 WEYMOUTH 2

Its a bitter-sweet end to the 2022/23 campaign.

The sun was beating down at the Megger Community Stadium as the two sides preparing to play out a relegation showdown took to the stage. Dover Athletic, having not won at home in their previous six attempts, hosted Weymouth who were the form horse of the two.

It was the team from down on the Solent who started the brightest, most notably with skipper Tom Bearwish who headed straight into the arms of Stuart Nelson after 5 minutes. Moments later and again Nelson was watching an Akheem Rose effort go narrowly wide of his upright.

Dover tried to get into the game but the home sides passing radars were slightly off as the Whites failed to string a series of passes together. Brad Ash for Weymouth was occupying both Dover centre halves and was keeping them honest.

It was the impressive Ash who opened the scoring for the Terras after good work down the right hand side was rewarded with the forward lashing the ball past the helpless Nelson after a neat cut back by the dead ball line.

Dover had a mountain to climb with Weymouth now leapfrogging them in the table and it got even worse for the hosts in the 30th minute when a free header by Rose managed to squirm under the body of Nelson, with the Whites unable to clear from a corner. Luke Wanadio struck the crossbar with on the brink of half-time but it was going to be a tough team talk for Mitch Brundle.

The Whites looked to get back into the game and exerted plenty of pressure on Weymouth but the visiting defence was not in the mood to throw away any goals. It was the story of Dover’s campaign. Plenty of action but nothing to back it up with despite dominating large parts of the game. In South London, Chippenham Town were leading at Dulwich Hamlet, which in the end proved costly for the Hamlet who slid into the drop zone on goal difference.

With moments to go, both sets of fans were singing ‘We are staying up’, but it was done the hard way for the Whites who reclaimed National League status once again. ‘I’m disappointed with the performance and the situation but I’m delighted we have stayed in the division,’ said Brundle post match.

COYW.

Dover Athletic: Nelson, Judd, Paxman, Sterling, Janjeva, Higgs, Martin, Oliver, Wanadio, Baptiste, Nikaj

Weymouth: Weymouth  Benfield, Howe, Carlyle, Wilson, Sesay, Bearwish, Hemings, Blair, O’Connell, Rose, Ash

Attendance: 1509

 

AWARDS NIGHT – JUDDY AT THE DOUBLE

Whites hold their annual awards

The curtain came down on the 2022/23 Vanarama National South campaign with the club holding its annual Supporters Club awards ceremony. There were three trophies up for grabs, Golden Boot, Away Supporters Player and Supporters Player of the season.

Luke Wanadio claimed the Golden Boot, hitting double figures for the season.

Myles Judd picked up both the Andy Fisher shield for Away Supporters Player of the season and the Simon Harris shield for Supporters Player of the Season. The Simon Harris Shield was presented by Simons son. Judd then chose the Pilgrims Hospice as the recipient of the £200 cheque kindly donated by the Supporters Club. Our number two was often seen marauding down the right hand side of the pitch and his no nonsense style went down well with the fans.

As always we appreciate the effort from all the players and we wish them well in the future.

MITCH BRUNDLE – AN OPEN LETTER

An open letter from the Gaffer.

My Dover family,The home support in recent weeks has been amazing myself, the staff and players really appreciate it. You’ve been amazing from when I first came to the football club and its been ever better since I got the job. This weekend we are going to need you more than ever, I hope you can be the 12th man for us. It’s not been the season anyone wanted. We are in the situation we are in, going down to the final game of the season to keep this amazing football club in the division. I have been doing everything possible at my disposal through the whole season to fight for the club and I will continue to do so. We need you now more than ever to be positive and get behind the lads and I look forward to seeing as many of you who can possibly make the game Saturday. Up the whites, let’s get the Crabble rocking.

Brunds.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN – PART 2

Your Club Needs You

We head into the final game of the Vanarama National South campaign with our destiny in our own hands. I think its fair to say that the 2022/23 season hasn’t gone exactly as planned but sometimes thats football and thats how it works out. You need a little bit of luck at times and as the old saying goes, the rub of the green. The club haven’t had that in a while, either on or off the pitch, but we want to look forwards and not backwards and while we still have points on the board advantage, we have hope. We have one more game at home, one final push and we want you to be there to help drag us over the line.

Images courtesy of Flashscore.co.uk

Hungerford Town and Cheshunt had their fates decided on Tuesday night, losing to Bath City and Worthing respectively. Our hosts Weymouth have find a little form in the run-in, including an impressive 3-1 win away at Taunton Town on Tuesday evening, to set up this all or nothing encounter. A win for the Whites and its plain sailing into the Vanarama South 2023/24 campaign. Concord also fell through the trap door last night, falling 4-3 to Havant in a thrilling tie at Canvey Island. It now means that if Dover lose, Dulwich will need to only a point to send us down so it all depends on ourself to dig us out of a hole.

Whatever the outcome, we need to make sure that we are sensible in the stands.

It’s the biggest game of the season.

It’s a big game for the players and a big game for me.

Gaffer Mitch Brundle spoke to Kent Online Sport in the build-up to the match. ‘It’s a very stressful week for me. It’s the biggest game of the season. It’s a big game for the players and a big game for me. From where we were, 14th or 15th, we’re now about where our budget is. Everyone else has invested in their squad. I have watched their games against Slough and Hampton. We have managed to get that video footage of them. But we haven’t performed against certain teams around us in certain games and then we beat someone like Braintree and you just think ‘How?’. But we’ll just try and be positive, going into the last game.’

 

Form Guide:

Head to Head:

The Whites have had the better of the visitors, winning three of the last five encounters including a 2-0 victory back in September.

TICKET INFORMATION

Admission for this match is by turnstile only. We accept both card and cash on the gate.

Adults – £16

Over 60 – £14

Under 18 – £8

Under 11s continue to be free with paying adult

We hope to see as many of you there as possible. COYW.