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Written by Margaret Nixon
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Monday, 10 September 2007 |
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Address
Torquay United Association Football Club
Plainmoor
Torquay
Devon
TQ1 3PS
Map
Official website
Forum
Local Radio - BBC Devon
Torquay United as it is today is the result of a merger between three local
teams: the United team as we know it, Ellacombe and Babbacombe. The original
Torquay United Association Football Club was founded in 1899 by a group of
school leavers and played its first friendly match against an Upton Cricket Club
eleven in a farmer's field at the top of Penny's Hill, on the Teignmouth Road.
The Plainmoor site did exist, but it was the home of the rugby club, and when
they vacated in 1904, Ellacombe moved in. United led a nomadic existence, moving
between the Teignmouth Road site and Torquay Cricket Club's site at Cricketfield
Road until 1910, when it merged with Ellacombe and became Torquay Town. The club
had won their first honour, the Torquay and District League title, in 1909.
The new club shared the use of Plainmoor with its rivals Babbacombe. After the
end of the First World War there was pressure for Torquay Town and Babbacombe to
merge, which they did in 1921 and adopted their present name, Torquay United.
The original colours were light and dark blue, but after the merger in 1927 they
adopted the Newcastle United style of black and white stripes, earning them the
name of the Magpies. At the same time they were elected to Division Three
(South) of the Football League. They wore their Magpies colours for over thirty
years, until the 1954/55 season, when they changed to gold and blue to represent
the sand and sea of Torbay. Since the early 1980s the team's nickname has
switched from The Magpies to The Gulls to reflect their proximity to the sea and
their sand and sea kit. They were not able to take the full name of The Seagulls
as that had already gone to Brighton.
Like their early nomadic existence between grounds, The Gulls have led a similar
existence through the League Divisions. After making their League debut in the
third division, in 1927 they were relegated to the newly-created Fourth in the
1957/58 season, were promoted back to Division Three in 1960, and relegated
again to Division Four in the early Seventies. The mid eighties saw them
struggle and they finished at or around the bottom of Div 4 three years running.
In 1987 they acquired a brief moment of fame through one of those bizarre
incidents that football throws up occasionally. Needing to win their last game
at home to Crewe to be sure of avoiding the first automatic relegation to the
Conference they trailed 2-0 at half time. They pulled one back but as time ran
out they still thought they needed a win. In the dying minutes a Torquay player
was bitten by a police dog!! The subsequent hold up in the game meant they
learned that relegation rivals Lincoln had lost and now they only needed a draw
and the equaliser came in the 3rd minute of time added on for the dog bite
incident!
They remained in the bottom league until they gained promotion to the newly
named League 1 in 2004. Success was short lived and they came back down the
following season and immediately flirted with relegation to the Conference but
eventually managed safety via 20th place. However, even that safety was short
lived and they finished bottom of league 2 last year.
In cup competitions Torquay's success has been limited. In 1954/5 they reached
the 4th round of the FA Cup beating Leeds 4-0 at Plainmoor in a replay before
losing 0-1 at home to Huddersfield in front of their record crowd of 21,908, a
figure that will almost certainly stand given the different safety criteria in
this day and age. 10 years later they held Spurs to a draw at home coming back
from a 1-3 deficit and lost the replay 1-5 thanks largely to a Jimmy Greaves hat
trick.
They made it to Wembley in 1989 when they reached the final of the Sherpa Vans
Trophy via a 2 legged semi final win over Wolves. They met Bolton in the final
and took the lead before eventually losing 1-4. The following year they knocked
West Ham out of the FA Cup in the 3rd Round and reached Wembley again in 1991 in
the Play-offs having finished 7th in the league. Whilst not strictly a cup win
it probably felt just as good as they gained promotion eventually beating
Blackpool in a penalty shoot out. Their last trip to Wembley was in 1998, again
in a play-off final but this time they lost 0-1 to Colchester.
Torquay have started life in the Conference with some flourish with many new
signings over the summer and a draw and victory in their first 2 games. It may
only be a '2 game' league yet but it is interesting to note that the 2 Devon
teams occupy the top 2 spots!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 September 2007 )
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