Dave Darvill

Dave Darvill RIP

By Mishi Morath, 7th Jul 2014

An old Hamlet legend from yesteryear has passed away. Programme Editor John Lawrence pays tribute to one of our all-time greats:

I am sorry to report that Dave Darvill, one of the Club's finest ever goalkeepers, passed away recently. He was in his early eighties. The Hamlet's regular no. 1 for much of the Fifties and the early Sixties, he made a total of 457 first team appearances for the Club, easily the most ever by a Hamlet goalkeeper.

He gained representative honours for the Isthmian League, Surrey FA and London FA and played for the FA Amateur XI. One of his proudest moments was to selected as reserve goalkeeper for an England Amateur International against France in 1956.

Also in 1956, he was a member of the Dulwich side that came within ninety minutes of playing at Wembley, when we lost 1-3 to Corinthian-Casuals in the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup in front of a 27,000 crowd at Stamford Bridge.

Dave won several medals with Dulwich, his only senior club, playing in two Surrey Senior Cup winning teams (1958 and 1959), two London Charity Cup victories and four successive triumphs in the South of the Thames Cup. In addition, he was an ever-present when Dulwichfinished runners-up to Wimbledon in the Isthmian League in season 1958/59. He was also in goal, and only beaten three times, when Chelsea sent their full first team to play the Hamlet for the opening of the Club's floodlights in 1964.

Despite living out of London for many years, Dave maintained his interest in the Club's fortunes and was a regular visitor when our Vice Presidents sponsored a match.

I'm probably biased, because Dave was a boyhood hero from my early days of watching The Hamlet, but in later years I was privileged to get to know him fairly well and always found him to be excellent company.

I'm sure all those with Dulwich Hamlet at heart would like to join me in offering their sincere condolences to Heather, his wife, and their children and grandchildren at this sad time.