Post by Jon on Aug 7, 2012 20:09:20 GMT
The rise and rise of Torquay United Football Club did not go quite as smoothly as it should have done.
There was a little wobble in 1904 when the Tics stole the Rec from us, but we rode that out as the town's senior club.
It did go horribly wrong a few years later when those junior upstarts at Ellacombe and Babbacombe started to get ideas above their station.
In 1906/07, Ellacombe - who competed alongside our reserve team in the junior Torquay and District League (the forerunner of the South Devon League founded in 1903) - had the nerve to enter the East Devon SENIOR Cup.
In Round 1, United saw off Bovey St Johns and Ellacombe thrashed Totnes to set up an all-Torquay quarter final showdown at Plainmoor.
The teams had already met three times in friendlies during the season and twice in the previous season - all five games comfortably won by the SENIOR team.
So what went so horribly wrong? Little Ellacombe didn't just put up a plucky fight, they thrashed the mighty United 4-0.
A couple of weeks later our reserves managed a 0-0 draw with Ellacombe in a League encounter. But the spell had been broken.
United withdrew from the East Devon SENIOR League early in 1907/08. In the following season both Ellacombe and Babbacombe stepped up to SENIOR leagues leaving Torquay United to play against their reserve teams in the T&D League.
We had to annexe Ellacombe - grabbing their Plainmoor ground in the process - in 1910 to re-assert our authority, even if it meant a name change from United to Town. If you can't beat them join them. We finished the job by annexing Babbacombe in 1921 and changing back from Town to United.
The nice thing about football is that we can always find a grievance to explain any failing. We never lose - we are always robbed.
So how did Ellacombe rob us in 1907? By drafting in a couple of outsiders! Not strictly against the rules, but it isn't really cricket, is it chaps?
They brought in somebody called Davies from Bath and the famous Reggie Wills from Paignton in goal. If it hadn't been for Reggie, we might have nicked a 4-4 draw, seen them off in the replay at Barton Road and not needed all those tortuous mergers to get back to where we started.
I wonder if Reggie's grandchildren and great-grandchildren realise the trouble he caused?
There was a little wobble in 1904 when the Tics stole the Rec from us, but we rode that out as the town's senior club.
It did go horribly wrong a few years later when those junior upstarts at Ellacombe and Babbacombe started to get ideas above their station.
In 1906/07, Ellacombe - who competed alongside our reserve team in the junior Torquay and District League (the forerunner of the South Devon League founded in 1903) - had the nerve to enter the East Devon SENIOR Cup.
In Round 1, United saw off Bovey St Johns and Ellacombe thrashed Totnes to set up an all-Torquay quarter final showdown at Plainmoor.
The teams had already met three times in friendlies during the season and twice in the previous season - all five games comfortably won by the SENIOR team.
So what went so horribly wrong? Little Ellacombe didn't just put up a plucky fight, they thrashed the mighty United 4-0.
A couple of weeks later our reserves managed a 0-0 draw with Ellacombe in a League encounter. But the spell had been broken.
United withdrew from the East Devon SENIOR League early in 1907/08. In the following season both Ellacombe and Babbacombe stepped up to SENIOR leagues leaving Torquay United to play against their reserve teams in the T&D League.
We had to annexe Ellacombe - grabbing their Plainmoor ground in the process - in 1910 to re-assert our authority, even if it meant a name change from United to Town. If you can't beat them join them. We finished the job by annexing Babbacombe in 1921 and changing back from Town to United.
The nice thing about football is that we can always find a grievance to explain any failing. We never lose - we are always robbed.
So how did Ellacombe rob us in 1907? By drafting in a couple of outsiders! Not strictly against the rules, but it isn't really cricket, is it chaps?
They brought in somebody called Davies from Bath and the famous Reggie Wills from Paignton in goal. If it hadn't been for Reggie, we might have nicked a 4-4 draw, seen them off in the replay at Barton Road and not needed all those tortuous mergers to get back to where we started.
I wonder if Reggie's grandchildren and great-grandchildren realise the trouble he caused?
