This is an article that was published in The Dagger, this is the match day programme for Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. The match was against Kingstonian on 21st February 1998. If you know of any similar articles please let me know and I may be able to add it to the site. Thanks
Dagenham & Redbridge have had an Unofficial Website for the last six months; it is produced by one of the supporters and his son.
The Website is on the Internet, which are, for the uninitiated, many thousands of computers around the world permanently linked together. First developed by the American military in the late sixties. It was feared that by having delicate information held on only one central computer could become a security threat. The idea of linking many computers together meant that if one machine were to be destroyed, any data required would be instantly transferred from another machine via a different route. Each computer was always monitoring what the other machines on the Net were doing and which ones were out of order or off-line. The theory being that it would be very unlikely that all machines would be destroyed at the same time.
Companies to promote products and individuals that are enthusiastic about a particular subject place Websites on the Internet. Non-league football is a subject that is well catered for. Two types of Websites exist, official sites, that are set up and run by the clubs themselves, and more commonly, unofficial sites maintained by dedicated supporters.
A Website, in simple terms, is a magazine that can be accessed by anyone in the world within seconds, so once the site has been updated, someone in Canada or Australia could find the results, read a match report or see the current league tables. This sort of information would be almost impossible to find any other way.
Not only are these people able to access information about this club, but can also have a look at sites produced for Sutton, Boreham Wood, Gravesend & Northfleet, Enfield, Harrow, Aylesbury and St. Albans. All of these sites are of high quality and most will have match reports as seen from a supporter's perspective.
On our particular site, which currently is attracting over 100 visits per week, there are ways that the supporters can become involved as well, for instance there is a page called "The Internet Man of the Match/Season". This is where votes are sent in after each home game and then collated into a table. It is also possible to leave messages on what is called a Guestbook, many ex-Daggers fans that have perhaps emigrated or have had to move due to work commitments have done this. The Guestbook can be viewed by anyone who visits the site, but it is interesting to know that we have fans living in Connecticut, USA; Paralowie, South Australia; Toronto, Canada; and more from places like Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, we have also had visits from Japan and Thailand.
So if you are on the Internet, then visit the site and leave you own message on the Guestbook. The Website address is
www.daggers.mcmail.com/index.html
The current positions in "The Internet Man of the Match/Season" award table can be seen below.
1) David Pratt, 2) Paul Cobb, 3) Gary Howard, 4) Tolo Mas, 5) David Culverhouse, 6) Steve Conner.