Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2009 11:51:04 GMT
Four or five years ago the editor of Bridgwater Town's programme asked me to supply background information for a series of articles he was planning about ex-Torquay United players who appeared for Bridgwater in the 1950s and 1960s. Unfortunately, for several reasons, the articles never appeared and I can't remember all of the players involved.
For certain there were players who moved directly from Torquay to Bridgwater and others would have got there by a more circuitous route including, to this day, Matt Villis and Stephen Orchard (who was briefly with us without playing in the first team). Looking at the Centenary History together with Neil Brown's A-Z of players who appeared for us in the Football League - www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/torquay/torquay.htm - players such as Norman Clarke (according to the book but not the site), Tommy Northcott and Brian Handley left Plainmoor for Bridgwater. Neil Brown also lists Geoff Cox although the history says he left us for Plymouth Argyle (as recently discussed).
I'm not sure if there was any specific link with Bridgwater or it was just because they would have been one of the bigger, more ambitious clubs in the Western League at the time. Indeed, given that Bridgwater was one of the most industrialised, working-class towns in the Westcountry (especially after the opening of the cellophane works in the late 1930s) you'd have expected it to have been fertile territory for semi-professional football. Bridgwater Town FC itself was a product of the town's post-war boom and quickly became one of the Western League's strongest clubs.
Ironically the club's downfall came with stepping up to the Southern League in the 1980s and the loss of its old ground at Castlefields (now buried under an industrial estate behind Sainsburys and marked by Robins Drive in honour of Bridgwater Town's nickname). As a result a new club was formed in 1984 which has now worked its way back up to the Southern League playing at Fairfax Park (between the college and railway line, next door to the relatively new rugby ground). The club seems to be ticking along reasonably well even though the lower division of the Southern League can soon become a deadwater after a few seasons standing still. The rugby club is an altogether bigger fish in the local pond - currently playing in National 2 (S) - but you'd hope that Bridgwater is sufficiently a football town for the football club to survive and prosper. The cellophane works may have gone - no pong along the M5 now - but the town retains a different mindset to those around. And, right at the heart of the football club, is the Laird family which includes Craig, the ex-Torquay United loanee now at Stevenage.
