Jon
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Post by Jon on Jul 8, 2012 21:16:38 GMT
I know the wartime league finished in June 1940 and TUAFC effectively closed down. I think representative games were played at Plainmoor and i am sure i read that the world champion boxer Joe Loius did an exhibition fight up there. He must have been stationed nearby perhaps. Down at the recreation ground rugby carried on through various rep games versus Navy X1 etc. Much depending on who was stationed in the bay at the time and who was home on leave. Anyone know just how regularly Plainmoor was used between 1940 and 1945 and what took place? Over to you Jon i think...... A thread of its own I think. I had not heard the Joe Louis story before, but this clip from the WMN 11 May 1944 confirms he was touring American forces in the South West from a Plymouth base.  The attached link confirms that he did indeed visit Plainmoor: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/00/a6462100.shtmlDuring the Spring of 1944, Torquay was overflowing with American soldiers and sailors who were training for the D-Day landings. There was a camp at Shiphay and a huge one at Heathfield. One day my friend Dick found out that the Yanks were having an exhibition of boxing at Plainmoor. He was daft about boxing, being a member of the local Appollo club. We walked into the ground without being stopped by anyone and thoroughly enjoyed the show. A ring was set up in the middle of the football ground and the highlight of the afternoon was an exhibition by Joe Louis, and another black man called Sugar Ray something or other. Then at work I learned that the Yanks had taken over an hotel, Princess, just up from the Imperial and that a telegram was to be delivered for Sgt Joe Barrow -who was of course Joe Louis himself.I would love to know more about what football was played in Torquay during the five years that TUFC closed down. Newspapers were thiner at the time, so coverage not great. I know there was an amateur club started at the start of 1940/41 and that local team Torquay Blacks used Plainmmor in 1944/45. The WMN of 25 January 1941 mentions this game:  I guess the goalkeeper was Ted Ditchburn - who went on to play for England. Not many other familiar names. |
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jul 8, 2012 21:53:05 GMT
Nice thread and one that understandably hasn't been visited before. Do I recall seeing an aerial photo elsewhere in this room taken by the Luftwaffe during the war? Would be nice for Goering to have an contribution of sorts on here..   There is a picture of the grandstand in this week's herald a decade after, in 1954 showing some recently pollarded and cut down trees right in the ground itself and I don't know if any overhanging branches were ever an obstruction down that touchline? www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/Plainmoor-half-century-ago/story-16483638-detail/story.html |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2012 22:06:46 GMT
Do I recall seeing an aerial photo elsewhere in this room taken by the Luftwaffe during the war? That'll be this:  |
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Jul 8, 2012 22:17:35 GMT
When I was a youngster (and I feel old at 35!), I worked washing dishes and then as a chef's skivvy for a very old skool gent with over 50 years in the hospitality trade going from working at the Rougemont Hotel to The Clarence, the Buckerell, The Imperial as well as running nightclubs and other related businesses. He was very proud of his roots as a humble working-class lad who grew-up on the Burnthouse Lane 'estate' in Exeter - some of you might know it as having a grim reputation - but in reality it isn't anything like what you would see in any big city - or even perhaps parts of Torquay and certainly Plymouth. He grew-up there when World War 2 was in full throes - and he was able to make money as a schoolboy by running errands for the GIs such as collecting laundry, fish and chips and shining shoes etc.
He was a bit of a raconteur - and I never knew when he was pulling my leg. One story he did tell-me that stood-out at the time was the time that the GI's arranged for him to see Joe Louis - who stayed at the huge barracks off Topsham Road / Barrack Road in Exeter. It was four or five years before the internet was very much around before I could ever really find-out anything about the story.
Sadly my old boss died the best part of 15 years ago, but only after he did was I able to see that it was indeed possible that he watched Joe Louis box (albeit an exhibition). It was also incredible to think that in the lifetime of some people I know we had American soldiers based in huge numbers in Exeter and when there was a fantastic world class sportsman visiting, black GIs were barred from all the pubs around the area except for one - which was designated as a 'black GI pub' - I have forgotten which pub it was - think it was one near the Flying Horse at rather than the Dolphin Inn (now the Tap and Barrell). Bizarre that there was such overt apartheid operating in our fair county even so relatively recently. Perhaps just as bizarrely there was one night where the GIs left for France suddenly and never came back.
Anyway - the above is a bit of a digression, but enjoyed the newspaper piece and the link, so thanks a lot for that.
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