Jon
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Post by Jon on Aug 11, 2011 23:06:09 GMT
The club recently passed on to me a query from the grandson of a member of the Torquay United side that won the Torquay and District League in 1908/09 - the club's first ever honour. That team also ran up TUFC's record victory, 22-0 v Torquay Tramways. Plymouth-born Ernie only played one season for TUFC as a half-back. He was included in the Torquay & District XI (combining players from Babbacombe, Ellacombe and Torquay United) that ran Southern League Exeter City's first team very close before going down 2-1. More about Ernie here: www.piddingworth.com/ERNIE_LEONARD.pdfI was also sent some photos. The first is of Ernie and the next two of his TUFC league winners medal from 1909. The last is a team pic of the Devonian Football club. Such was the emigration from Devon to Canada before the Great War that there was a team full of Devon boys playing in a different T&D League - the Toronto and District.     |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2011 14:10:03 GMT
Such was the emigration from Devon to Canada before the Great War that there was a team full of Devon boys playing in a different T&D League - the Toronto and District. Too early for the Devonians to be playing in the Don Mills district of Toronto, then? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mills |
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pidd
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Post by pidd on Aug 14, 2011 16:00:27 GMT
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Aug 14, 2011 18:32:29 GMT
Funny you should mention that. I sent the team pic to Colin Jose - and he has forwarded it to the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. He told me this about the Devonians: I don't know a lot about the Devonians. The newspapers in those days were affected by the war. The Toronto World was perhaps the best but it went out of business in 1921. But the war affected all of them. The Devonians played in the Toronto and District League which was formed in 1908 and lasted well into the 1970s under the same name, but is now known as Toronto Soccer Association. At times there were five divisions. Incidentally Sunderland is a place just north of Toronto.
The Brigden Cup was donated to the Toronto and District League by Fred Brigden, who was the first president. There is some information on the internet, but not a lot. There is not enough detailed information in the papers and no records that we know of remain, consequently the newspapers are our only source. However, what has survived is one of the annual handbooks which contains the Constitution and Rules. In the back there is a list of clubs in membership and the names of the secretaries. The entry on the Devonians for season 1922 says that the team played in Green with a black border, sounds like the old Plymouth Argyle colours from when I was a boy. The secretary's name was H. Ogden and he lived at 18 Day Avenue in Toronto.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2011 19:40:40 GMT
The entry on the Devonians for season 1922 says that the team played in Green with a black border, sounds like the old Plymouth Argyle colours from when I was a boy. Colin Jose seems to have been writing about North American soccer since I was a boy. I knew he was from the South West but didn't realise he was born in Falmouth. The bit about the Devonians playing in green is a reminder that many Devon representative sports teams have worn those colours over the last hundred-odd years (further evidence being contained in that "Greens on Screen" history that Jon has tracked down). |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2011 19:57:50 GMT
Well, they might have been able, but Toronto was rather small back then. Hi Pidd, I'm not sure where you're located or how much you know about the history of Torquay United but the thought crossed my mind that you may have been baffled by the apparently gratuitous reference to Don Mills. For us, rather than the name conjuring up thoughts of a Toronto suburb, we think of Donald Mills one of our greatest-ever players who appeared for the club between the late 1940s and early 1960s. Sadly, I never fail to make the link every time Toronto is mentioned on this site. All the best and thanks for contributing! |
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pidd
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Post by pidd on Aug 15, 2011 2:37:30 GMT
That's a good gotcha for you Mr. Downs!
No, following Torquay United from this side of the pond is a relatively new thing because of the internet; although I did purchase the club history and was disappointed not to see the 1909 champions. I am interested in the team's progress and cheer them on!
I played football in school and at university and it was still called 'football' in Canada in the fifties but soon changed to 'soccer' as the Canadian Rugby Football League became popularly known as the American-style football and less Rugby. Rugby, oddly enough was called 'Rugger' by many. What confusion.
Soccer is the most popular participatory sport in Canada...even more so than ice hockey and even
Cricket is making a big comeback. Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, declared Cricket the national sport back in the 1870's. Toronto FC gets good fan support but the football isn't always the best.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Aug 16, 2011 22:14:56 GMT
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