Post by Jon on Dec 4, 2021 0:32:52 GMT
Almost 100 years since our first visit to Weymouth.
You can be sure there will be more Torquay fans tomorrow than on our first visit and that Gary Johnson will not face the selection problem that Crad Evans faced.
United had qualified for the final of the Devon Senior Cup at Home Park and also had a Plymouth & District League fixture with Woodland Villa at Plainmoor - complete with updates from the big match in Plymouth.
The first team left for Plymouth by car at 1 o’clock sharp, the reserves kicked off at 3.30.How could we get together a team to send to Weymouth on the 9.20 train from Torre Station?
United's Cup final opponents Oreston Rovers had lost a replayed final against Green Waves 364 days earlier. Green Waves had been reinforced by two players borrowed from Torquay Town - Harold Counter and Oscar Jackman. Town had been due to visit Green Waves in the league that day but the match was postponed when the Cup final needed replaying. So Torquay Town had no game and their players were not cup-tied as Town had been denied entry to the Devon Senior Cup due to the intransigence of our "friends" at Babbacombe. In return for the "favour", Town's away game with Waves was played in midweek not at Plymouth but at Plainmoor.
Waves and Rovers were fierce rivals. Rovers had now turned the tables by beating Waves in the semi-final leaving Waves without a match on Cup final day.
So United were able to borrow six Waves men : Waller, Moore, Parsons, Folley, Worden and Mills for the trip to Weymouth. Charles Waller was Devon's keeper who had played three Football League games for Exeter City the season before. Wilf Worden had played two Southern League games for Argyle before the War and one, in very bizarre circumstances, for Newport in the first season after the War. Three County players missed the train to Plymouth, so they fielded the manager and the trainer and borrowed Worden to make up the numbers by playing against his own team.
Completing the United lineup were Grove, who had played top amateur football with Woking and Guildford and had also helped out in a league match at Horfield when we set loose some first teamers on Torrington in the Cup quarter-final, Nettesonne (signed from Waves at the start of the season), local veterans Bovey and Stuckey and another “fringe” player in Chapman.
All three United teams won their games. The "scratch team" beat Weymouth 2-0 with goals from Worden and Stuckey.
United were charged by the Western League with fielding an understrength team. but the case was dismissed.
The cutting below invokes the old cricket convention of no initials for professionals. Nine pros in the Cup final team, two on the train to Weymouth and three on show at Plainmoor.
You can be sure there will be more Torquay fans tomorrow than on our first visit and that Gary Johnson will not face the selection problem that Crad Evans faced.
United had qualified for the final of the Devon Senior Cup at Home Park and also had a Plymouth & District League fixture with Woodland Villa at Plainmoor - complete with updates from the big match in Plymouth.
The first team left for Plymouth by car at 1 o’clock sharp, the reserves kicked off at 3.30.How could we get together a team to send to Weymouth on the 9.20 train from Torre Station?
United's Cup final opponents Oreston Rovers had lost a replayed final against Green Waves 364 days earlier. Green Waves had been reinforced by two players borrowed from Torquay Town - Harold Counter and Oscar Jackman. Town had been due to visit Green Waves in the league that day but the match was postponed when the Cup final needed replaying. So Torquay Town had no game and their players were not cup-tied as Town had been denied entry to the Devon Senior Cup due to the intransigence of our "friends" at Babbacombe. In return for the "favour", Town's away game with Waves was played in midweek not at Plymouth but at Plainmoor.
Waves and Rovers were fierce rivals. Rovers had now turned the tables by beating Waves in the semi-final leaving Waves without a match on Cup final day.
So United were able to borrow six Waves men : Waller, Moore, Parsons, Folley, Worden and Mills for the trip to Weymouth. Charles Waller was Devon's keeper who had played three Football League games for Exeter City the season before. Wilf Worden had played two Southern League games for Argyle before the War and one, in very bizarre circumstances, for Newport in the first season after the War. Three County players missed the train to Plymouth, so they fielded the manager and the trainer and borrowed Worden to make up the numbers by playing against his own team.
Completing the United lineup were Grove, who had played top amateur football with Woking and Guildford and had also helped out in a league match at Horfield when we set loose some first teamers on Torrington in the Cup quarter-final, Nettesonne (signed from Waves at the start of the season), local veterans Bovey and Stuckey and another “fringe” player in Chapman.
All three United teams won their games. The "scratch team" beat Weymouth 2-0 with goals from Worden and Stuckey.
United were charged by the Western League with fielding an understrength team. but the case was dismissed.
The cutting below invokes the old cricket convention of no initials for professionals. Nine pros in the Cup final team, two on the train to Weymouth and three on show at Plainmoor.
