sam
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Post by sam on Mar 25, 2015 13:59:06 GMT
Sorry if this has been the subject of a previous thread but I came across this in the Torquay United v. Leyton Orient programme 27th October 1951. Written in the Soccer Spotlight column by Roy Page (Buccaneer of the Western Mornng News).
"Torquay players looked resplendent when they took the field at Swindon. A supporter has presented them with a set of badges and they made a big difference to the shirts. The badges depict a gull in flight. So perhaps the traditional nickname, the Magpies, will become the Gulls".
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2015 15:12:16 GMT
There's quite a good history write-up here ( link). Can't vouch for its authenticity though. Like anything found on the internet, there's no telling how accurate it is. It mentions the strip change as being in 1954, when floodlights were installed. Makes sense that the club at that stage would go for something brighter than the then black and white strip, which had been the reason for 'The Magpies' nickname. I'm sure Jon, or the other history stalwarts, BartonD and Gullone, can conjure up some definitive facts, which they're all brilliant at doing. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2015 18:21:17 GMT
On the matter of the Gulls nickname, Alan Merson has come up with the name of John Hudson as the man behind the idea. Hudson was a club director who was involved in a squash club at Barton Hall. At Plainmoor the new Gulls Shop was very much his baby. And my memory is of that late 1960s club shop being the start of it all. The Gulls logo seemed to be on most of the items it sold and, indeed, I've still got a keyring - complete with an encased pre-decimal penny - from that period. There was also a short-lived magazine known as the "Gulls Cry". As for the supporters adopting the new nickname for their own use, I think they were rather stand-offish at first. It also took a while for the club to move away from the traditional Borough of Torquay badge to one based on the Gulls design. Ultimately this was done in stages. Then we had Dave Webb and palm trees. Maybe it was when the dust had settled on that nonsense that the Gulls really became more common currency. How we discussed this a couple of years ago. |
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Post by gullone on Mar 26, 2015 10:31:53 GMT
Sorry if this has been the subject of a previous thread but I came across this in the Torquay United v. Leyton Orient programme 27th October 1951. Written in the Soccer Spotlight column by Roy Page (Buccaneer of the Western Mornng News). "Torquay players looked resplendent when they took the field at Swindon. A supporter has presented them with a set of badges and they made a big difference to the shirts. The badges depict a gull in flight. So perhaps the traditional nickname, the Magpies, will become the Gulls".This is an early press photo from the FA Cup 2nd round replay at Plainmoor on 19th December 1951 and shows Northcott with a badge on his shirt...  |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Mar 27, 2015 0:14:38 GMT
John Lovis (page 36 of the CH) says of the 1954 kit change: "This change marked the end of the club's magpie nickname, and it was not until the late sixties that a new one - the Gulls - was decided upon".
Might have been mooted in the 50s, but a slow burner before really taking off in the late 60s.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2015 18:41:40 GMT
"Torquay players looked resplendent when they took the field at Swindon. A supporter has presented them with a set of badges and they made a big difference to the shirts. The badges depict a gull in flight. So perhaps the traditional nickname, the Magpies, will become the Gulls".
I've not heard of this before; Buccaneer at his most prescient. You wonder what that early 1950s gull looked like. Similar, maybe, to that of today's Brighton and Hove Albion.
And who was the fan? And for how long was the gull sported?
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