Why do you support Torquay?

[Colorado Gull]

I was 10, my mum and dad took me, great game, hooked ever since. Yellow blood

[Plymgull]

I was born and still live in Plymouth! (yep i'm a janner) My uncle took me to my first ever footy match when i was 12 which happened to be Torquay, i had such a great time he continued to take me with him most home games and ever since i have supported Torquay United. I've never even thought about Argyle! i'm proud to be a Gulls fan even though all of my mates like to take the piss. (most of which support premiership teams anyway!)

[manchestergulls]

i was born in torquay but moved away to manchester when i was two. always came back to visit family and friends and went to my first game in 76/77 season, knew back then that this was my team and always would be. during my school days i used to go to old trafford but never got the same high or love as i do when i watch torquay. always love to trip down the m5 when you see the sign "welcome to devon" i think yes i am back home.

[Northumbergull]

Manc

I feel the same about that sign too!

Bruce

[yellow]

I know what you mean too Manc.

For me it is the similar sign in the dip on the A303. That brief section of dual carriageway as you overtake that Grock caravan that has been holding you up, and speed into God s county....and then slow down up the hill behind the next caravan that was a few minutes ahead.

Spent years doing a countdown from 10 for the kids in the back leading up to the moment that we passed that sign.

BTW I have nothing against caravans as long as they limit their travel between 2 and 5 in the morning. :x

[westbaygull]

BTW I have nothing against caravans as long as they limit their travel between 2 and 5 in the morning. :x

<takes sharp intake of breath> Ooh Yellow, I'm sure you don't mean that do you.....not that I have a traveller existence myself, you understand, but there are those amongst us that may...<wink, wink, taps nose, nods subtly>

[Northumbergull]

I wonder if the whole sign thing is felt by others heading into their own counties/countries?

In a different way to my feelings about the Devon sign, these days I breathe a sigh of relief that the journey is nearly over as I crest the hill past the services at Washington and see the Angel of the North and the lights of Newcastle set out ahead of me. Mind, I also toot my horn and flash my lights as I see the Saltires at the border crossing into Scotland on the A1! I usually stop for a cuppa and stand for the obligatory photos with Japanese/American tourists in my kilt.

How about you?

Cheers

Bruce

[HRG]

I agree Bruce, I'm usually relieved when I see the 'Welcome to Herefordshire' sign partly because it means I'm nearly home and partly because it means I've left Wales
Of course I'm joking the Welsh are lovely as is the country. I venture across the border often to visit the in-laws so maybe I should say I'm relieved to have some distance between me and them, oh I can't they're nice too.
I do love the Devon sign also as I have so many wonderful memories of time spent in the bay.

[yellow]

<takes sharp intake of breath> Ooh Yellow, I'm sure you don't mean that do you.....not that I have a traveller existence myself, you understand, but there are those amongst us that may...<wink, wink, taps nose, nods subtly>

I most certainly do westy.

They are top of my room 101 list. Why anyone would want to tow a shed around when there is decent accommodation available beats me.

The illusion of freedom is just that as they book a campsite in advance and pay handsomely for the privilege.

But if they do wish to blight the views of their neighbours and clog up the countryside, then their traffic movements should be at night so as not to inconvenience other road users. :!:

[SuperNickyWroe]

I wonder if the whole sign thing is felt by others heading into their own counties/countries?

In a different way to my feelings about the Devon sign, these days I breathe a sigh of relief that the journey is nearly over as I crest the hill past the services at Washington and see the Angel of the North and the lights of Newcastle set out ahead of me. Mind, I also toot my horn and flash my lights as I see the Saltires at the border crossing into Scotland on the A1! I usually stop for a cuppa and stand for the obligatory photos with Japanese/American tourists in my kilt.

How about you?

Cheers

Bruce

not only the "welcome to devon" bruce, but the first signpost on the M5 with the word "Torquay" on it makes me giddy! :Oops:

and going up the M1, when i get to meadowhell - sorry meadowhall shopping centre and the Tinsley Cooling Towers, before they got blown up, i knew im 15mins from home......a happy sight....

[oxgull]

They came for me back in 1969/70 on a Saturday night under lights and you had to queue at the mini stand end to get in. You could here the music from the PA system as the light grew stronger and the noise and atmosphere grew as you walked between the houses from Castle Circus where the bus from Newton Abbot dropped you off. A neighbour asked if I wanted to go with him and his step Dad and the rest is history. He went on to support the red & white scum up the road when he moved to Exeter. I was only 10 but was hooked for life and couldn't stop talking about it when I got home as my mother & father thought I had gone through a religious experience. Suppose it was a similar thing really. Anyway the game was against Shrewsbury Town in the old third division and Torquay won 2 - 0. Robin Stubbs, Micky Cave, Tony Scott, Bill Kitchener, Andy Donnelly in goal and a host of other heroes to enjoy! The old cowshed stood beside the mini stand then and old HOOO used to live in there. Who?? some older supporters must remember the old chain smoking manic OAP who used to shout HOOO!!! all match. He's long gone to the cowshed in the sky now. Why do I support Torquay? cause I got nowhere else to go!!! On the M5 passing the "Welcome to Gods Country (Devon) sign always makes me toot the car horn and shake my fist in joyous celebration much to the amusement of the wife who just cannot understand me.
Oxfordshire is home now as I settled here after coming out of the army but wherever I went Torquay United went with me. Got pictures of me in Nairobi, the Falklands and Germany with TUFC stuff on as I was always proud, and had the wee taken out of me, but there just isn't any other club in the world worth it is there?

[Awayday]

I am Epsom born and bred, my family are all North London and I have no ties with Devon let alone Torquay....... so why Torquay?

My mate who came to Arsenal with me had Torquay as his 2nd team, his family are from Torquay and his cousin was married to a player for a while.
In all the years of going to Arsenal he tried to get me to go to Torquay London away games, in the end I went to Barnet away just to shut him up.
It was the best 90 minutes ever. I then started going to all the London away games until 1999 when I ended up moving to Southampton. It got very expensive at Arsenal (even without the travel money) and I had enough of spending the last 20 years watching a team who were bottom of Division 1 and you could walk straight in, to a team that were expected to win everything and you couldn't get a ticket for love nor money because of all the glory hunters (where were they when they were sh*t?).

I carried on going to the odd away game, and started travelling to Plainmoor for 1 or 2 cup games a season. My mate stopped going to games and started to follow our old local team (Leatherhead) instead (although he did sit with the Torquay fans in the FA Cup game against Leatherhead). In the end I started going on my own and on occasions dragging the odd mate from Southampton. In the end I started meeting the same old faces and we formed a small gathering of Hampshire based fans. In the end I became very good friends with SG and we are probably both as bad as each other for dragging each other to games that we may not normally have gone to.

Why do I support them........... for me it is the fans and the club it self. Of all the teams I have been to (as a home fan) I have never seen such a family orientated fan base, with loads of fun and positivity. We are not expected to win every game, and are pleased of picking up the odd point. In the last 10 years I can honestly say I have well and truely dropped Arsenal, and only watch them from a TV (if I can be bothered). I go to the odd Pompey game (for someone who lives in Southampton doesn't go down to well) but can honestly say I am TORQUAY once and for all. Most of the regular away fans now know who I am, and it is nice to meet people.

[Plymouth Gull]

Hmm, mine isn't as interesting as everyone elses, but hey.

Born in Plymuff, but didn't live their long enough (6 months) to even know anything about football or nothing. Had it had been 6 years down there, I'd probably be an Argyle boy, but thankfully I'm not. We moved to Kingsteignton and have been there ever since - alot of my family used to support Man Utd, so I jumped on the bandwagon, but then I remember going to a game (Torquay vs Gillingham in 98/99) and enjoyed it. Went to the occasional games over the next couple of years, with Dad busy with work and me still being about 6/7. Got my first season ticket in 2003/04, and, well, that season was incredible. Plenty of memories from that season have stuck with me since.. beating Yeovil 2-0 away, Swansea at the old Vetch Field will a late JK goal, Sarfend obviously the best one of the lot. Can't forget seeing the best footballing performance I have ever seen at Cheltenham that season, and also Kevin Hills amazing overhead against Macclesfield which I still think is the best goal I've seen at TUFC. So yeah, plenty of memories from then, and I was hooked. Had a season ticket ever since - although probably wouldn't have got one this season if I was still being charged £200+ for the adult one, but they came up with the under 18s s/t.

So yeah, theres my story.

[royalgull]

Good topic and I think wivel definitely has it right in that it chooses you. I've no connections with Devon at all nevermind Torquay. I loved football as a lad watched Match of the Day follwed Man Utd like you do when you're 6 years old and everyone at school does the same. We were on holiday in and around the BAy in 1994 when my old man said to me 'Do you want to go to football tonight?' I'd never been to a live game before so I said yes quicker than Bayo did the last time he was offered a bargain bucket. Torquay united v Northampton Town August 31st 1994.

Even at aged 8 i'd got a taste for live football. Our local team that all the family supports is Reading, so my old man took me to Elm Park quite a bit and then onto the Madejski in the years that followed. Over this time I'd seen Reading go from Divison 2 strugglers to the Premier League and back down again. I enjoyed it but whenever I got the chance to see Torquay (mainly when they were around this way at Oxford, Swindon, Wycombe etc) it always felt 'right'. They were my team, Reading may well have been the families team and my old man's team but Torquay was where it was at for me. On the extremely rare occasions that my old man would drive us to Plainmoor that was special to me.

As I've got older, I can drive myself now, I can get on a train and go Torquay are without doubt my number 1 club. Evidenced now by all my mates (all RFC fans) that came down for the Carling Cup match. I still paid my entrance fee for the Pop Side to stand on my own than go in the away end. I could never cheer against Torquay.

Had some special games in the last few years and the Torquay result if i can't go is the first resul I look for. Torquay definitely chose me on that day in 1994 and it still does now.

[HRG]

We were on holiday in and around the BAy in 1994 when my old man said to me 'Do you want to go to football tonight?' I'd never been to a live game before so I said yes quicker than Bayo did the last time he was offered a bargain bucket.

Excellent!