Truro City v Tiverton Town

Great post Barton and when I go past the Tiverton ground twice a week, I aways look to see who they have got at home for their next game. I have been surprised many times, just far away some of the teams are that they play.

I think its wonderful how well Truro are doing as I have aways felt that football took second place to rugby in Cornwall. I would love to see them one day become a proper league club and I wonder if Cornwall had a league club of its own, if many would still go over the bridge and support Plymouth.

I think if a chairman joins in the group hug, it shows just how much he loves the club and just has to share in the celebrations and why not, mind you can't see our Alex wanting to do it

Why would you think that might be the case? it does not seem here in Torbay that those who move here, would want to support the local team.

Could it be to do with the ages of the people who might move to Cornwall, IE more younger family types, while in Torbay it would be mostly retired people.?

Truro City are a side on the up; which obviously has an attraction to people going into Cornwall. If they see that the local side is winnig nearly every week and has big ambitions of becoming Cornwall`s first football league club. People may think to themselves that they want to be part of that history so they can say to thier kids"I was there when Truoro became a football league club".

Devon & Cornwall always has people from other parts of the UK. I think that there arent many people who were born Devon & Cornwall who have parents who were born in Devon & Cornwall left in the area. I think this is due to many people leaving the area for better places, like work in London or University in other areas.

I am afraid that I am going to leave Torquay in the next yar or so to go University seeing as Torquay dosent have one and Plymouth and Exeter University may not have what I want.

Well, I guess, it depends on what you want to study and the grades you are going to achieve. Some subjects are available practically everywhere; others at just a handful of places. And - as for the football - if you're off to somewhere like Leeds I'd suggest still getting to the Torquay aways but also trying to see as wide a range of other matches as possible. You may miss those home games at Plainmoor but they can always wait for the holidays. Trust me...



I'd have thought that would have been more true at the level below the one at which Truro and Tiverton play. From what I've seen there isn't much difference between levels 4 and 5 of the non-league game (which would translate to Isthmian 1(N) and the Essex Senior in your Southend friend's neck of the woods). There is, I believe, more of a gap between levels 3 and 4. However, I would admit that the style of play at levels 5 and 6 - usually open and attacking - is often more enjoyable to watch. By contrast, the higher grade stuff can appear attritional.

Tiverton were rather limited on Monday - they've now been tootling along in mid-table for several seasons now - and have probably reached the point where a change of management might be for the best. Equally, of course, it could prove disastrous. Perhaps there's not a big enough reason to get rid of Martyn Rogers and - maybe - he is the club these days through his virtual full-time involvement.

One or two final points about Truro picking up on Joe's point about the possibility of them one day entering the Football League. If this ever happens, it'll probably be entirely due to the financial clout of Kevin Heaney, their owner, in hand with an incredibly shrewd application of his investment. At present - three or four years after he became involved - you'd have to say they've achieved everything to plan to date. Heavy investment or not, that's pretty impressive.

But, of course, Mr Heaney is exceptionally wealthy and has featured in the Sunday Times Rich List. Provided his businesses continue to flourish - he's in construction – the amount he’s putting into the club, by his own standards, is no more than petty cash. On the other hand – by the standards of the leagues through which Truro have progressed – it’s megabucks. Now, to achieve the two promotions needed to reach the Football League – and to improve the existing ground or build a new one – he’s got to multiply that investment several times over. Then – once the Promised Land is reached – he must continue to invest more and more money. His businesses may boom; they may fail. He may keep at the game; he may lose interest. It all boils down to him and – in the nature of these things – it’s all rather fragile. The game is littered with burst bubbles in similar situations and – often it seems – the sugar daddies walk away once the train hits even the flimsiest of buffers. A council rejects a planning application - or a league refuses entry – and, suddenly, the game is over.

Lots of people outside of Truro – in a know all way - expect this to happen. This doesn’t have to be the way and maybe, just maybe, Truro will make it. However, the problem remains that efforts have to be made to make the club sustainable - at whatever level - should things go wrong. Although we know gate receipts are only part of the story Truro would, by most estimates, have to build up to a core support of around 2,500 (plus another thousand floaters) to have any chance of making league football viable post-Heaney. In that sense, they’ve a long way to go. People associated with the club might talk of a growing county of 530,000 people crying out for a Football League team. Well, I’m not sure about that. For a start, take out the 180,000 living in those districts - Caradon and North Cornwall – which border Devon. Then think twice about Penwith (Penzance and surrounds) and the rugby lovers in Camborne and Redruth. Quite soon you’re down to the “football triangle” between Falmouth, Newquay and St Austell which probably has a smaller population than South Devon. On that basis the Conference would be a fine achievement, but would it be appreciated? Mind you, whatever the outcome, it’s certainly worth following and - yes - good luck to them.