The Oldest Living Dulwich Hamlet Player is 100

 

Happy 100th birthday to former Dulwich Hamlet player Richard Boyd who wore the pink and blue in 1940..

Click the link above to read Richard's life story or watch the YouTube video below to see Richard speak of his wartime memories.

Eddie Presland, RIP.

We were very sad to learn of the death of former Dulwich Hamlet manager Eddie Presland, aged 78. He passed from this life in a hospice in Newcastle surrounded by his loved ones. Our deepest condolences to Eddie’s family and friends.

Following Alan Smith’s departure from Dulwich in the summer of 1981, Eddie Presland was appointed the Hamlet manager, a post he held for the next three years. At the end of that third season he won the London Senior Cup. It was the first of two spells at the club.

Born in Loughton, Essex on 27 March 1943, when Eddie arrived at Champion Hill, he was working as a PE Teacher at Stepney Green Secondary School, married with a thirteen year old son and living in Upminster.

He had a fine semi-professional pedigree in non-league football management, and in 1980 led his Dagenham side to the FA Trophy, the first Isthmian League team to win it. Prior to that he played for and managed Wealdstone, after a spell coaching and playing in South Africa.

His professional career was largely spent playing reserve team football, but there were wonderful highlights. He famously scored on his West Ham United debut against Liverpool in 1965, his most memorable match. His boyhood club went on to win 2-1. Four of the players on the field that day – Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Roger Hunt – would be in the England team that won the World Cup at the end of the following season. Brief highlights of the game including Eddie’s goal can be found here .

During his time at West Ham, Eddie spent the summers playing County cricket for Essex. He then played three seasons for Crystal Palace, and went out on loan to Orient and Colchester United, thus making appearances in all four divisions of the Football League.

The second spell at Dulwich Hamlet came midway through the 1987/88 season when he turned things around and saved the club from relegation. And then, in November 1989 Eddie was controversially sacked after a run of bad results, but this only led to the Hamlet going into free-fall which saw them relegated at the end of the season.

Other clubs managed by Eddie include Hendon and Gravesend & Northfleet. Then in later years he took up scouting for some top-flight clubs, and played a part in bringing Luca Modric and Dimitar Berbatov to Tottenham Hotspur.

Rest in peace, Eddie Presland.