December saw me visit Craigowl Primary School to present, along with the ArabTrust, a cheque for sponsorship of the Dundee Primary Schools’ Football League. It’s great to be able to play a small part in trying to ensure that football thrives in our Primary schools, and fantastic to see a good number of Dundee shirts being worn by the youngsters. December also saw the 2012/13 season Goals DVD being sent out to Gold club members. This involved many a night spent in front of the TV sticking DVDs into envelopes, putting address labels and stamps on the envelopes and then getting them along to the post office the next day. If any Gold club members still haven’t received their Goals DVD from last season please get in touch with a Society Board member.
As December progressed my focus was spent mostly as a volunteer to help with the aforementioned players’ hospital visit and Junior Dees’ Christmas Party. Special thanks go to Jacqui Robertson for the amount of time and effort she put into these events. There were others who also gave up their time to wrap presents and help out at the party, but if it hadn’t been for Jacqui then the two
events would have been poorer for it. Jacqui reported back that the players were fantastic at both events and the Society really appreciates their support.
The New Year kicked off with a Society Board meeting on Monday 13th January. We hadn’t had a meeting since the end of November so more than four hours after the start of the meeting we were still at it! Live streaming testing has gone very well and we believe we’re more or less there now. We’re waiting for the new website to be ready and there has been a slight delay as the project was more complex than first thought. Again, however, we’re nearly there, with archive material currently being uploaded in preparation for the launch.
The Society Board still has one co-optee space to be filled and we’re on the lookout for someone who can act as Secretary. If you are interested in helping out and this role is one that interests you, please get in touch with a Society Director who will give you more information on the role and responsibilities of being a Director of DFCSS.
We are also turning our attention towards Annual Membership of the Society, as voted for by our members at the SGM last August. This is due to come into force on 1st June this year. Provisionally the Society are looking to set the annual fee at £5 and letters have to be sent out to all members by 1st March giving notice, so the planning for this has already started.
Of course as well as all the above, I have also thoroughly enjoyed away days at Hamilton, Greenock, Alloa and Kirkcaldy which have returned a fantastic four wins out of four. Home form isn’t as good as the recent 100% away record but everyone wants the same goal and if everyone sticks together and backs the team I’m confident we’ll be where we want to be come May. There’s been a lot of discussion recently about the difference between the support at home and away games, although I’m pretty sure the same people who travel to the away games and give superb backing to the boys on the park all attend the home games as well. The secret is getting them to deliver the same type of backing at Dens. I’m not sure how this is achieved, but maybe it’s time to experiment with a singing section within the ground and actively encourage those who wish to give vocal support to the team to sit together in one part of the ground. It’s been mentioned before I know and it may not work. It may be worth a try though, and if it doesn’t work then what has been lost?
Meanwhile, keep the faith and believe!
Yours in Dark Blue,
Peter Campbell
Chairman
Dundee FC Supporters’ Society.