Rochdale (25th Aug) TorquayFans.com Match Sponsor

[bc-gull]

Still processing mate, but try loading this video a bit later on...

[youtube]NA-4mU1Rrt4[/youtube]

Was very close, well done.

Ahaa cheers mate:)

[Dave]

Oh my gord Louis, was there something up with your camera, that looks like the evil monsters day out

Many thanks Steve for arranging all this, really enjoyed myself, and it was nice to meet Skyblue, yellow4life and Dillon. not forgetting Glouster, louis/ mrs louis, Tom and steve who I had met before.

[tktufc91]

Thanks to Louis and Steve for organising a cracking afternoon. Glad to meet some new faces and those I've met before.

Highlight of the day for me was the three man poznan between b-c gull, Glostergull and myself after our 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals.

One game I won't forget in a long while. Many thanks to all involved!

[cambgull]

Impressed with Niall's stripe! He must use Daz.

[Trojan 67]

I hope Stefano attends this one, then those in attendance can listen in person to his "Rochdale at home" story.

go on trojan . please enlighten us in case he doesn't come. not full details, just the outline will do.

Shame on you Gloster. What follows is the post that won Stefano a recent joint MOTM award, and just for you, the FULL details . . . .

Every June there is great excitement and anticipation when the fixtures for the forthcoming season are announced. Whatever happened last season is forgotten, and no matter what level we are at we always know that next season will be special, the one we will tell our children and grandschildren about.

Most people adopt the same style when getting hold of the fixtures. A scan of who we play in the first game, then the local derby dates, the Christmas and Easter fixtures, and who we play in the last game (often highly significant for a Torquay United supporter!).

Whilst that is the tried and trusted way for most supporters to scan and assimilate the new season fixtures that is not what I go for. Local derbies and festive games will arrive when they arrive.

I always look for Rochdale .... at Home.

My first Football League fixture way back in 1963, one we won and then in subsequent seasons one we always won. Rochdale .... at Home.

So a fair bit of nostalgia wrapped up in my rather odd behaviour when receiving the new fixtures, as well as I suspect a flawed memory which still recalls those never ending sunny summers when it never rained and those magical winters when it always snowed.

Saturday 7 September 1963. Football League Division Four. Torquay United versus Rochdale.

The date had been etched into my mind since the announcement of the fixture list three months earlier. I had decided that 1963/64 was to be my debut season for supporting Torquay United, but our first home game of the season (Tranmere Rovers 1-1 draw) coincided with our summer family holiday in a caravan at Westward Ho! The Spanish Costas still consisted of small fishing villages in those days so there were no ambitions in that direction, and anyway the only people that ventured abroad were the Royal family, film stars, and Alan Whicker.

So it was on to the second home game as the first I would be able to see. Rochdale .... at Home.

It was with great excitement that I boarded the number 12 bus outside of Bearnes Primary School in Queen Street, Newton Abbot, for the journey to Castle Circus. I had no idea at that stage that Devon General ran football specials direct to Plainmoor.

Arriving in Torquay I ignored the number 30 service and decided to walk up over St Marychurch Road to the ground. As I headed up the hill at every junction more people came out of adjoining streets and lanes and all were heading in the same direction.

Turning off Bronshill Road and catching my first glimpse of the ground with those towering floodlights was like walking down Wembley Way on Cup Final day for me.

Outside of the ground fans milled around in anticipation as I soaked up the atmosphere. Virtually all male, and seeming to range in age from six to ninety six. The faces of the six year olds beamed with excitement and expectation, although I did notice that the ninety six year olds bore a well worn knowing look of the long term Torquay supporter.

A great atmosphere in those days but not as much colour, unless my recall is warped because our tv programmes were in black and white so my memory produces all images of that time in black and white.

No replica shirts of course. The colours consisted of blue and yellow scarves and hats of various shades as they were not factory produced but normally knitted at home by wives, girlfriends, or mothers. Then there were the rattles. Swung manically above the head like a demented cowboy trying to lasso a steer, the sound of two thousand rattles in unison when a goal was scored was awesome.

I am not too sure when the football rattle faded out of my life, it just did much like school shorts and permanent plasters on my knees.

So into the ground and I was spoilt for choice in those days before segregation, eventually opting for a place on the Popular Side exactly on the half way line and leaning on the fence (strictly forbidden now).

The kick off, and after only four or five touches I was hooked. For the previous two or three years I had been watching Newton Abbot Spurs at the old Newton Recreation Ground, but found that my age made it difficult to concentrate on a full ninety minutes so more often than not ended up behind the goal at the Cricket Field end kicking a ball around with the other kids. But Plainmoor was different. I was captivated and just could not take my eyes off the action.

A goal from Dave Hanc*ck mid-way through the first half sealed a 1-0 win and a perfect day.

Actually only scoring one goal at home was most unusual that season. In the next 12 home games, 10 league and 2 FA Cup, we rattled in 48 goals, an incredible average of 4 goals a game.

Rochdale and the towns listed in our other fixtures like Workington, Hartlepool, Darlington, Tranmere, Bradford, and Carlisle, sounded full of mystery to me and my Atlas of Great Britain became well thumbed by the end of the season as when a fixture came up the first thing I did was locate the town on my map (never could locate Tranmere though!).

As well as locating the towns on the map, I also wanted to know more about the places, no easy feat before the advent of Google. Many a visit was made to Newton Abbot library where strict looking adults (I knew they weren't football fans because they were female) supervised and enforced strict silence, something that must have been easier then before mobile phones. The concept of a mobile phone at that time was about as likely as landing a man on the moon!

Gradually images formed of our Northern heritage. The cotton and wool mills, mining of coal, iron, and minerals, leather and pottery production, and the transport systems of the canals and railways.

I am sure that everything I ever gleaned about the Industrial Revolution emanated from being a Torquay United supporter and not from school!

One of my heroes in that 1963/64 season was Reg Jenkins, a burly inside forward who scored 7 goals in 37 league appearances but laid on many more for Robin Stubbs and Tommy Northcott, who between them scored half of our 80 league goals.

Reg was surprisingly released at the end of that season and went to Rochdale where he became a local hero, scoring 119 goals in 305 appearances. He was voted Rochdale's best ever player in a recent poll similar to the one we did where we selected Don Mills.

I bumped into Reg in 1992 after a game at Millbrook Football Club when I was secretary of a South Western League team and we had just beaten Torpoint Athletic in the semi-final of the SWL Cup. I had been talking to Reg, who had introduced himself as the groundsman, for a good 15 minutes before I realised who he was. As soon as I realised I was immediately transported back to the age of eleven, my hero Reg Jenkins, all those memories, and Rochdale .... at Home..

So Rochdale .... at Home, always became the first fixture I look for.

1964/65 was quite a mediocre season in the league brightened up only by the 3-3 FA Cup draw with Tottenham Hotspur, but one of our few league highlights that season was a 2-1 win against Rochdale .... at Home.

The next season 1965/66 was our promotion season to Division Three. We were going well heading into February and I always felt the barometer as to whether we could sustain our challenge would be our game against Rochdale .... at Home.

So it proved. 4-0 and a Robin Stubbs hat trick and we were heading for Division Three.

My euphoria at gaining promotion was tempered by the knowledge that when the new season fixtures came out, whilst there would be new and exciting teams on it, QPR, Middlesbrough, Watford, Reading, one name would be missing. Rochdale .... at Home.

In fact I never expected to play them again. Rochdale were after all always going to be in the bottom division, whereas we had a young and talented manager who would surely take us onwards and upwards.

We did then have three very good seasons almost gaining promotion to the Second Division, and then surprise surprise, who appeared on our fixture list for the 1969/70 season? Yes they had only gone and got themselves promoted. Rochdale .... at Home.

3-0 that season and 3-0 the following season only enhanced my love of this fixture. Rochdale .... at home.

Starting 1971/72 with only one defeat in our first nine games may sound good, but there was one pointer in that sequence that this could be a season of struggle. A 1-1 draw against Rochdale .... at Home.

The omens proved correct. We finished second from bottom and were relegated back to Division Four.

Rochdale didn't come down to join us until 1974/75 although when they did it was back to normal with a 3-0 win against Rochdale .... at Home.

The following three seasons saw wins of 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0, so it continued to be my favourite fixture, Rochdale .... at home.

Fast forward a few seasons to our 'Great Escape' season 1986/87 when the newly installed trapdoor to the Conference beckoned. We looked doomed but I knew we had a chance when I saw on our fixtures only one week from the end Rochdale .... at Home.

Sure enough a 2-1 win resulted with goals from Jim McNichol and Paul Dobson.

Forget everything you have heard about the Crewe game a week later, 15 minutes injury time, and the involvement of a police dog. What kept us up was the week before. Rochdale .... at Home.

Fast forward again to our first year back in the Football League after promotion from the Conference. We were struggling and looked as though we may be the first team promoted from the Conference to go straight back down again.

So to a baking hot day when league leaders Rochdale rolled up at Plainmoor with 1500 fans needing just a win to secure promotion, but with Elliot Benyon and Mustapha Carayol absolutely on fire the Gulls romped home 5-0 and didn't lose again that season, finishing comfortably safe. Who could not like this fixture? Rochdale .... at Home.

So to tomorrow. Argyle, Exeter, and Bristol Rovers will pass me by as I search for that team from the foothills of the Pennines and sitting on the River Roch. Rochdale .... at Home

Looks like we're in for a good season then Stef ?

[SkyBlueGull]

Thanks to everyone particularily Steve and Louis for your hospitality on the day.

My apologies for not responding sooner but have only got back home late this week - and access to a computer.

It was good to see you all and be made to feel most welcome - I will look out for you at away games

Much appreciated - its things like this that just differentiate TUFC from the Premiership circus.

There is no way I would have received such an invitation if I was an MU/Arsenal/Chelsea supporter

regards

Tony(SkyBlueGull)

NB There is little to report on Ian - my father in law who remains stable with no signs of improvement. Spent 3 hours with him the day after Rochdale where he talked lucidly about all things TUFC from when he came down in the 1960s and had Alan Brown and the team come and have a "big breakfast" at his Poppins resteraunt after training, ( yeah sausage bacon beans and eggs + fried bread after training - how times have changed) - to the David Webb era - which sounded more like a gangster era! there is a big meeting on tuesday about Ians prognosis and I will let you know.

[Glostergull]

Thanks to everyone particularily Steve and Louis for your hospitality on the day.

My apologies for not responding sooner but have only got back home late this week - and access to a computer.

It was good to see you all and be made to feel most welcome - I will look out for you at away games

Much appreciated - its things like this that just differentiate TUFC from the Premiership circus.

There is no way I would have received such an invitation if I was an MU/Arsenal/Chelsea supporter

regards

Tony(SkyBlueGull)

NB There is little to report on Ian - my father in law who remains stable with no signs of improvement. Spent 3 hours with him the day after Rochdale where he talked lucidly about all things TUFC from when he came down in the 1960s and had Alan Brown and the team come and have a "big breakfast" at his Poppins resteraunt after training, ( yeah sausage bacon beans and eggs + fried bread after training - how times have changed) - to the David Webb era - which sounded more like a gangster era! there is a big meeting on tuesday about Ians prognosis and I will let you know.

Copy the repeat of trojans Post Tony. I have just spend an enjoyable 10 minutes wallowing in nostalgia reading it. Your Father in Law will enjoy it.