I love watching Torquay United because........

[SteveDeckchair]

Apologies if this had been done before and feel free to move it to the popside if you wish mods. I think it's TUFC related though.

Simply answer the question above in as many or few words as you like. Ok, I'll kick it off.


For me, Plainmoor is an oasis from life. I leave all my troubles at the gate and for a couple of hours and nothing matters except what is taking place on the pitch in front of me. It's also a time that I love spending with my Dad, talking footy, singing and shouting. It's always nice to have a sneaky pint with him too!

[AustrianAndyGull]

For me watching United kills two birds with one stone so to speak. On the one hand ( or the first avian to meet it's untimely demise ) i love football to death. Not just Torquay but i'll watch anything as long as a ball is being kicked, excluding someone being leathered in the knackers down a dark alley on a night out in Barnsley which i HAVE actually witnessed, OR if women are kicking it. Can't watch that either. Football is one of the biggest things in my life and being affiliated to particular teams like Torquay gives me a sense of pride, identity and belonging. For some of you it may be difficult to comprehend how someone whose only connection with Devon is going on holidays there ( although i did used to work near Newquay for a bit ) can have so much passion and love for a club in an area i've never lived in. I can understand that, but i support the Gulls as fervently as the most ardent and i'm bursting with pride at that. I live for matchdays and if i didn't live so far away i would be there every game. I know some of you go to every away game but you've got subsidised travel with Breedy and the travel club so it's not comparable.

Nothing beats being there on the terraces ( or in the seats depending ) singing on the lads and watching live football unfold before your very eyes. There is the banter between you and the opposition fans, in fact many have been bewildered when i have responded to their question i always get asked, "how long did it take for you to get here then?". Especially the Chesterfield fan who asked me at our FA Cup game last season! I said, "5 minutes mate, i live here"! I thrive on the anticipation of the matchday and the uncertainty of what might happen. I love the history of our game and the visits to grounds old and new. Visiting a new ground gives me the greatest pleasure and i always have a ritual of walking all the way round it, visiting the club shop and buying a programme. You just can't beat it. Torquay are my team and nobody can tell me any different.

My second avian to be culled, humanely i may add or more appropriatly, the second reason i like going to football is to visit new places as i love travel, visiting new places and geography basically. I will try and get to a ground early so i can have a look around the town i'm in and visit some places. For example Hereford is lovely and i went to the cathedral last time to see the MAPPA MUNDI and stuff and also generally enjoy the tudoresque architecture. Jesus i sound like Partridge now! It's not so good when you have to go somewhere like Accrington where the only place worth a look is the interior of your own rectum.

[RussianGull]

I love watching Torquay United because of the Boots and Laces, the half time pasty, the 50/50 draw, the proximity to the pitch, the highs, the many lows, the 0-0 draws, the Devon derby(s), the coastal train from Exeter to Torre, and the cheeky punt on Mansell to score first.

[usagullmichigan]

brucies answer should be interesting.

[Dave]

Going to Boots and Laces to meet with friends and partake in some childish and good humoured pre-match chit chat, entering the popside of my local team to watch live football, rather than shouting at the tele on Sunday watching a team I have and never will go and see play.

Standing on the popside whilst partaking in further childish and good humoured banter, whilst watching my favourite football team serving up what can only be described at times as " pure league 2 gold " Style entertainment, however that doesn't bother me, these lads are playing in league 2 for a reason, and if every shot hit the target every pass went right where it was meant to go, that would spoil my afternoon.

Going back into Boots and Laces after the match for post match chit chat on what went wrong, and every now and again what went right, before ending the day with further childish and good humoured banter with friends now totaly wiped out by the afternoons drinking, personaly i am tee total, makes it all the more enjoyable for me.

The joys of watching our tiny little from the backwater football club play at Wembley and Old Trafford, and compete in so many play-off campaigns, then trying to explain to a glory hunting Man.u fan what that means to us and feels like, and thats hard work the plastics just don't get it.

The 3rd F.A cup draw living on the edge of the dream, yes this is our year, the year we finaly get the big one, anyone of the top 4 teams away......Torquay will play Carlisle home, argh maybe next year.

The joys of reading internet posts from fans of clubs like Bradford, Plymouth, Port Vale and many more who believe their club doesn't belong in this league, their reaction to every game that doesn't go their way, and even more priceless, their reaction to went it hits home they will be spending yet another season in this league, the league they call hell and we call home.

The End.

[stevegull]

brucies answer should be interesting.

"I love watching Torquay (but not last season due to Ling's appointment) because it always gives me a multitude of things to complain about. Like what the hell is up with Leadbitter? Conference-bound we are!"

[royalgull]

I love watching Torquay United because of the Boots and Laces, the half time pasty, the 50/50 draw, the proximity to the pitch, the highs, the many lows, the 0-0 draws, the Devon derby(s), the coastal train from Exeter to Torre, and the cheeky punt on Mansell to score first.

Good answer.

[Rach]

I just love everything about it

[SuperNickyWroe]

For me watching United kills two birds with one stone so to speak. On the one hand ( or the first avian to meet it's untimely demise ) i love football to death. Not just Torquay but i'll watch anything as long as a ball is being kicked, excluding someone being leathered in the knackers down a dark alley on a night out in Barnsley which i HAVE actually witnessed, OR if women are kicking it. Can't watch that either. Football is one of the biggest things in my life and being affiliated to particular teams like Torquay gives me a sense of pride, identity and belonging. For some of you it may be difficult to comprehend how someone whose only connection with Devon is going on holidays there ( although i did used to work near Newquay for a bit ) can have so much passion and love for a club in an area i've never lived in. I can understand that, but i support the Gulls as fervently as the most ardent and i'm bursting with pride at that. I live for matchdays and if i didn't live so far away i would be there every game. I know some of you go to every away game but you've got subsidised travel with Breedy and the travel club so it's not comparable.

Nothing beats being there on the terraces ( or in the seats depending ) singing on the lads and watching live football unfold before your very eyes. There is the banter between you and the opposition fans, in fact many have been bewildered when i have responded to their question i always get asked, "how long did it take for you to get here then?". Especially the Chesterfield fan who asked me at our FA Cup game last season! I said, "5 minutes mate, i live here"! I thrive on the anticipation of the matchday and the uncertainty of what might happen. I love the history of our game and the visits to grounds old and new. Visiting a new ground gives me the greatest pleasure and i always have a ritual of walking all the way round it, visiting the club shop and buying a programme. You just can't beat it. Torquay are my team and nobody can tell me any different.

My second avian to be culled, humanely i may add or more appropriatly, the second reason i like going to football is to visit new places as i love travel, visiting new places and geography basically. I will try and get to a ground early so i can have a look around the town i'm in and visit some places. For example Hereford is lovely and i went to the cathedral last time to see the MAPPA MUNDI and stuff and also generally enjoy the tudoresque architecture. Jesus i sound like Partridge now! It's not so good when you have to go somewhere like Accrington where the only place worth a look is the interior of your own rectum.

really? :-o

sounds like a normal night out in the town! =D

[AustrianAndyGull]

I know SNW. Those were the days! ;P

[oxgull]

It's the only club that gets me soooo excited. ManU? Chelski?? Arse(nal)??? Argyle No way! Plainmoor is where it's at. Well, that and great away days with the travelling yellow army. It's been in my blood since I could walk and went to my first game back in 1969. Great days.

[ROADRUNNER]

ive been going since 1965 , i dont support any premier teams, torquay are the only team for me, my blood is yellow and blue, i even have a tattoo of the old club crest, I WAS BORN UNDER THE MINI STAND!!!, COME ON YOU YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELOWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[The Farmers Friend]

Increasingly as I get older and the world around me continues to change at a rapid pace, often for the worse, I find that supporting United is a reassuring bit of continuity in my life and a comforting link to my Paignton upbringing (although that sounds a bit melodramatic, as I now only live 25 miles up the road!).

It's never really bothered me too much that Torquay are likely to always be a small club, but when I was younger I harboured dreams that somehow we'd win the FA Cup or go on some mad run through to the top flight like Orient or Carlisle. The Evil Alliance of Murdoch and the Premiership have put paid to that flight of fancy, but having seen how the grotesque commercialisation of football has corrupted the sport and so many teams, they're welcome to it. I'm genuinely glad that we're never likely to be troubled by fly-by-night mercenary players or flooded with obedient football consumers from hundreds of miles away, happy to be treated as cash cows by wealthy people with little interest in football. At Plainmoor, it's still pretty much the football I grew up with - and better in a lot of respects.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Increasingly as I get older and the world around me continues to change at a rapid pace, often for the worse, I find that supporting United is a reassuring bit of continuity in my life and a comforting link to my Paignton upbringing (although that sounds a bit melodramatic, as I now only live 25 miles up the road!).

It's never really bothered me too much that Torquay are likely to always be a small club, but when I was younger I harboured dreams that somehow we'd win the FA Cup or go on some mad run through to the top flight like Orient or Carlisle. The Evil Alliance of Murdoch and the Premiership have put paid to that flight of fancy, but having seen how the grotesque commercialisation of football has corrupted the sport and so many teams, they're welcome to it. I'm genuinely glad that we're never likely to be troubled by fly-by-night mercenary players or flooded with obedient football consumers from hundreds of miles away, happy to be treated as cash cows by wealthy people with little interest in football. At Plainmoor, it's still pretty much the football I grew up with - and better in a lot of respects.

[ferrarilover]

One post, one **** ing post, and he's going to win MOTM.

Well said Farmer, absolutely correct in all respects.

Matt.