Post by Jon on Oct 23, 2010 16:32:20 GMT
It is well known that TUFC did not have to apply for re-election between 1928 and 1985. It is also well known that most clubs applying for re-election were successful.
That does NOT mean that our League status was always safe – far from it. In the 1930s, Northampton led a campaign to have us kicked out of the League. Why? We were so far away that clubs had increased expenditure getting to games at Torquay. Our crowds were so pitiful that the away club's percentage came to very little - certainly not enough to cover their expenses.
Year after year we struggled to keep clear of the re-election zone so as not to test the strength of this feeling.
In 1938, Ipswich Town had developed both on and off the pitch to a point where their election was just about inevitable. Gillingham, Walsall and Torquay battled to avoid finishing in the bottom two, knowing that one of them would almost certainly be kicked out. If we had been in the bottom two, it was odds on that our time in the League would be up.
We ended up avoiding the dreaded vote by one point ahead of Walsall. Gillingham finished bottom and were kicked out to make room for Ipswich.
We played at Gillingham in the penultimate game of the season and drew 1-1. If Gillingham had won that game, they would have faced re-election anyway – but alongside us rather than Walsall. You can be fairly certain who would have come out on top given the fact that our crowds were so small – the smallest in Three South six years running and the smallest in the entire League in 1937/38 .
Gillingham bounced back to the Football League twelve years later. The chances of Torquay doing the same would have been remote in the extreme - the end of professional football in the town would have been inevitable.
That does NOT mean that our League status was always safe – far from it. In the 1930s, Northampton led a campaign to have us kicked out of the League. Why? We were so far away that clubs had increased expenditure getting to games at Torquay. Our crowds were so pitiful that the away club's percentage came to very little - certainly not enough to cover their expenses.
Year after year we struggled to keep clear of the re-election zone so as not to test the strength of this feeling.
In 1938, Ipswich Town had developed both on and off the pitch to a point where their election was just about inevitable. Gillingham, Walsall and Torquay battled to avoid finishing in the bottom two, knowing that one of them would almost certainly be kicked out. If we had been in the bottom two, it was odds on that our time in the League would be up.
We ended up avoiding the dreaded vote by one point ahead of Walsall. Gillingham finished bottom and were kicked out to make room for Ipswich.
We played at Gillingham in the penultimate game of the season and drew 1-1. If Gillingham had won that game, they would have faced re-election anyway – but alongside us rather than Walsall. You can be fairly certain who would have come out on top given the fact that our crowds were so small – the smallest in Three South six years running and the smallest in the entire League in 1937/38 .
Gillingham bounced back to the Football League twelve years later. The chances of Torquay doing the same would have been remote in the extreme - the end of professional football in the town would have been inevitable.