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Torre Trojans FC was "dreamed up" in a classroom at Torquay Boys Grammar School (Torre) in November 1967.

The former Ellacombe Schoolboys at the heart of the idea/dream (who really should have been paying attention to the Latin lecture, thanks teamates for not doing so ), started something that would eventually lead directly to Plainmoor and Torquay United.

Former Torquay United players Dennis Penford (father of Chris Penford) and Dennis Lewis (father of Pete Lewis) together with former Torquay United "A" player Leslie Pope (father of Steve Pope) were there from the beginning.

It was too late in November of '67 to join the fledging Pioneer League season of '67/68 so we played friendlies to find our way.

One person, one man and one hell of a forward thinking football coach who has been overlooked in the rise of Torre Trojans is John Hammond, the sports teacher at Ellacombe School.

He introduced us to the "Ramsey System" in '65. It gained Ellacombe School joint winners of the the Bewley Cup at the end of the '65/66 season and of course, the "Ramsey System" also won something else that year. I forget what that is at the moment but as soon as a certain person says, "There are people on the pitch . . . they think it's all over . . .

I'll be back . . .

Trojan 67 wrote:Torre Trojans FC was "dreamed up" in a classroom at Torquay Boys Grammar School (Torre) in November 1967.......

.... introduced us to the "Ramsey System" in '65. It gained Ellacombe School joint winners of the the Bewley Cup at the end of the '65/66 season and of course, the "Ramsey System" also won something else that year. I forget what that is at the moment but as soon as a certain person says, "There are people on the pitch . . . they think it's all over . . .

I'll be back . . .

Wasn't that the same commentator who famously said "It looks now as though it's just a matter of who is going up with Torquay"?

I never did understand the Ramsey system. The press described it as 'wingless wonders' which involved Alan Ball charging manically down the right wing and Martin Peters drifting around on the left wing. Never could get my head around it! Still at least our national team was not a laughing stock in those days!

Here is a quick question about the past which I thought would be better on this existing relevant thread rather than starting a new one.

When did Torquay United become known as The Gulls?

Although I was not around at the time I know that when we played in black and white in the 1950's and before our nickname was The Magpies. I can also remember that when I started watching in 1963 we played in yellow and blue but did not have a nickname. It was a few years later that The Gulls was adopted as a nickname with that Motorola symbol (albeit Motorola didn't exist at that time!), but I can not pinpoint when.

I have a vague memory of local schools being asked to send in designs for the logo (and they may also have been asked to come up with the name).

It will probably need one of our members of more mature years to come up with the answer but fortunately there are one or two around! There may be some who remember doing logo designs at school, or perhaps even we have the person who came up with the actual design of the logo.

stefano wrote:Here is a quick question about the past which I thought would be better on this existing relevant thread rather than starting a new one.

When did Torquay United become known as The Gulls?

Although I was not around at the time I know that when we played in black and white in the 1950's and before our nickname was The Magpies. I can also remember that when I started watching in 1963 we played in yellow and blue but did not have a nickname. It was a few years later that The Gulls was adopted as a nickname with that Motorola symbol (albeit Motorola didn't exist at that time!), but I can not pinpoint when.

I have a vague memory of local schools being asked to send in designs for the logo (and they may also have been asked to come up with the name).

It will probably need one of our members of more mature years to come up with the answer but fortunately there are one or two around! There may be some who remember doing logo designs at school, or perhaps even we have the person who came up with the actual design of the logo.

When you played for TUFC stefano, was the "gulls motif" on the shirt at that time ? It certainly was when I wore the shirt for the TUFC Colts team for the '71-72 and '72-73 seasons, although the motif at that time was "upside down" (reversed as to how it is now).

I don't have a clue when the gulls name started, but I'll hazard a guess and say it was probably when the "upside down" motif first appeared.

Trojan 67 wrote: When you played for TUFC stefano, was the "gulls motif" on the shirt at that time ? It certainly was when I wore the shirt for the TUFC Colts team for the '71-72 and '72-73 seasons, although the motif at that time was "upside down" (reversed as to how it is now).

I don't have a clue when the gulls name started, but I'll hazard a guess and say it was probably when the "upside down" motif first appeared.

I think it must have been around the mid sixties cos im pretty sure they had the gull symbol when i first went to matches (67)

Fletch, that's the time when I first remember seeing it, but don't remember it before/during the '65/66 promotion season.

I guess the clue to when the gulls became the gulls (with or without the motif) can be found by looking through match day programmes of that era.

Trojan 67 wrote:Fletch, that's the time when I first remember seeing it, but don't remember it before/during the '65/66 promotion season.

I guess the clue to when the gulls became the gulls (with or without the motif) can be found by looking through match day programmes of that era.

Fraid my progs from that era went in the bin many moons ago (and not a green on either, recycling was unheard of then)

Fletch, we can go and have a peep at the TFF programme section.

Cant be bothered to register just to browse matey (assuming you still have to?)

Fletch wrote:Cant be bothered to register just to browse matey (assuming you still have to?)

You don't need to register anymore. I've just had a peep and from a '68 programme home to Shrewsbury, the TORQUAY BOROUGH crest is on the front cover of the programme but no gulls motif with the exception of a picture of Bill Kitchener in a shirt with the "upside down" (proper way up) motif on it.

Trojan 67 wrote: When you played for TUFC stefano, was the "gulls motif" on the shirt at that time ? It certainly was when I wore the shirt for the TUFC Colts team for the '71-72 and '72-73 seasons, although the motif at that time was "upside down" (reversed as to how it is now).

I don't have a clue when the gulls name started, but I'll hazard a guess and say it was probably when the "upside down" motif first appeared.

I really can't remember whether the motif was on the shirt then or not. That was 1969/70 and 1970/71 seasons. Certainly the nickname appeared at the same time as the motif, and I also now after your post have a vague recollection of the motif being the other way up. It's definitely old age setting in so off to get my slippers and a cocoa and stick the fire on!

Found this link as to when the gulls motif first appeared on the kit . . .

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Torquay ... United.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stefano, we both played then in the kit with the "upside down" (proper way up) motif on it

Oh, and not forgetting, Fonda had the "retro shirt" for a while as his avatar.

Trojan 67 wrote: You don't need to register anymore. I've just had a peep and from a '68 programme home to Shrewsbury, the TORQUAY BOROUGH crest is on the front cover of the programme but no gulls motif with the exception of a picture of Bill Kitchener in a shirt with the "upside down" (proper way up) motif on it.

Further on in the said programme is a reference to the "Gulls Shop".

Thanks Tojan excellent detective work seems to have resolved the issue :~D