The Big Match

[wivelgull]

What it was like to be part of the 20000 Plainmoor crowd who watched United draw 3-3 with Spurs:
http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon. ... plainmoor/

[stefano]

Great report and just about how I remember it. Something not mentioned is the large queue outside of Plainmoor for a reserves Western League game against Bideford a few weeks before, when they put the tickets on sale inside of the ground. There was no smart reception area or ticket office in those days. Must be the highest attendance for a Torquay United reserve game. We lost 3-1 with an amateur player John Smith scoring our goal from the penalty spot - no late comeback in that game!

[robbotufc]

was not at this Spurs match,didnt start supporting the gulls until 1967,but was at the Torquay v Spurs match in the early 70s when Bruce Stuckey scored first and the gulls went 1-0 up then went on to lose 1-4 the attendance that night was 20,100 at plainmoor great times in the mini stand....

[Modgull]

I was at the latter game. It would have been early 1972 I reckon - my first season supporting United following my family's move to the Bay from Reading. I was on the pop side which was much deeper in those days, right back to the road and so with a much bigger capacity. We were absolutely crammed but it was a great atmosphere.

[portugull]

I was at Plainmor with my late father when we drew 3-3 with spurs in 1965. I was 21 at the time.

My father came from liverpool and never got excited at plainmor on the rare occasions he visited the ground but this was the only time i saw him really excited by our thrilling come back from 3-1 down against a team in its prime which i think included 11 internationals.

the following week i was filmed at torquay station in my black top hat travelling up to white hart lane for the replay only to find when 10 minutes from the ground that the match was postponed because of a cloud burst.

i travelled up again the next week and we lost 5-1.

it still seems quite extraordinary that could get over 20,000 into plainmor but what a fantastic atmosphere and that is a day i will always remember.

[Glostergull]

I was only a wee boy when that match came around but remember sitting on my grandads lap to watch the match from his back bedroom window in Warboro road. Ah thems was the days. We had good crowds those days but 20 Thousand really made one hell of an atmosphere.
The pop side was called the Marnham Road terrace in those days and tickets were sold from a bungalow on the corner of the lane that comes off Warboro road to go down the back of the grandstand. just behind where the present lodge now sits. It looked somewhat quaint with yellow windows and paint peeling off sitting at an angle to the road. One of the buildings that helped give an atmosphere to Plainmoor. I knew I had arrived when I saw that bungalow.
The place was heaving on that great day, The Marnham road terrace was huge in comparison to what it is now. Our present crowds would fit on half of the old terrace with plenty of room to spare. The terrace spreading right back to the top of the wall with Marnham Road.
The Old away terrace was also right back to the wall with the lane running parralel with Warboro Road and went the whole width of the pitch with room in front for Invalid carriages. It was always open, never having any sort of cover.
Ah Yes. I remember it well.
The grandstand seemed just that in those days. A proper grandstand. resplendant in every way to a young boy. Decked out in yellow paint and yellow seats. with advertising around the perimiter. it went the full length of the pitch and seemed bigger to me than it had just before it was pulled down. Not forgetting of course the fire which shortened it somewhat.
The Mini stand didn't exist then. it was a terrace with a rough shelter which was eventually replaced by the mini stand
Rough didn't quite describe it really. it was totaly ramshackle. But I bet those who stood there loved every bit of the atmosphere it generated. the terraces in those days was reasonably neat and well kept. Not like in the later years when crack appeared, paint peeled off, and the shelters and stands looked like refugees from the local bus station.
We used to have regular crowds of 10,000 plus each game. It took the hairs off the back of your neck to hear them roar. The bell was well recognised belonging to John Bartlett. In the days when he was a part of the furniture and well thought of. oh for those days to return. We had wooden rattles then. That made for an odd noise when hundreds of rattlles went off in unison. a typical football only type noise which youngsters today would not recognise.
The floodlights seemed brighter in those days. we seemed to have many more light on those pylons than in later years. I suspect it may have had something to do with technology making lightbulbs more efficient but a full set of lights at the top of those pylons seemed so right. not like the odd assortment we have on them today. no symetry to it at all.
The crowds in general were well behaved too. no need to loads of security men or stewards. only the odd Policeman in his old style helmet to keep a fatherly eye on things. no stupid supporters trying to invade the pitch to attack the players or opposition. No dumb ass trying to take on the stewards because they won't let him go into the bar (not that we had one). Only the odd guy trying desperatly to get a view at all in the crush by climbing up the pylon. that when the crowds were heavy.
Now we have a bright new ground. it's neat and tidy. it's modern. Safe. and the atmosphere seems to dull compared to what I remember. The team hasn't changed a lot. yes the old players are in most minds just memories now. But the same is expected of the new inumbants. We are lower league, We probably always will be. But we are a close knit lot. The players know many of the fans personaly. The fans have many of the players in their little black book. No airs and graces. No big "I Ams" No pretences.
The one thing I do miss though now. The older big name players dropping down to lower teams as their careers fade a bit. we had big names come to Plainmoor in those days. Guys like John Bond. Ken Brown.Lew Chatterly graced Plaimoor.
I followed Rovers as well when I found out they existed just down the road from where I lived. My brother went a reserve game and wasn’t impressed. He ended up at Trashton. But ceased to follow them at all as they fell out of Division One. I thought he was so plastic as a supporter. The Rovers had big name players who came down to Rovers when their careers faded a bit. One or two came on to Plainmoor. Aiden Mcaffery was one I remember as I had a few drinks with him in the Ship at Alveston.
I am firmly commited to the Gulls now. Even Rovers have lost touch with their fans and followed the money train. Not that it has done them any good and look where they are now. Bottom but one way below where we are. I don’t know if they will be for long but just for now I revel in our ascendancy and being a team they fear. At least for a while.
We will get more big teams at Plainmoor in the years to come but I doubt it will equal the atmosphere and excitement generated when Huddersfield. and Spurs came to town.

[mcgull1]

What a stunning post, real emotion and passion, and in a way that i could only dream of portraying it.

[cambgull]

Well there's MOTM sorted. Little Mathew will be happy when he sees this. Great post GG!

[wivelgull]

Whatever happened to 'Cuss's Corner'?

[Glostergull]

Johhny Bartlett occupies it.