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Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive blogs about the Gulls

Game Off – Postponement Memories

The two pence coin has never had a lot of love since it was first introduced in 1971. It would buy you a few seconds’ chat in a phone box and you could while away a few minutes on the slot machines on Paignton Pier, but its purchasing power has always been negligible and really it just makes your fingers smell nasty.

Another “two P’s” that strike fear into the heart of football fans everywhere are the ones you sometimes see on the football results. Bad news. No fun. Match postponed!

With Torquay’s visit to Chippenham having fallen foul of the weather (no bad thing, you may think), I thought I would ask people for their memories of postponed matches in years gone by. It’s been great to gather a few recollections, and here- working our way backwards- are 11 memory-joggers.

Borehamwood (a) January 2023

This, of course, is a recent and notorious example. Despite the South East having been frozen solid for days, “the Wood” were confident that they could get the game on. Oh yeah?

The news didn’t come through until 2pm, by which time London was crawling with Gulls.

A few of us were near Euston and skedaddled to Loftus Road to pay £42 (each!!) for the privilege of QPR 1, Swansea 1.

Tom Kelly loved it though, because he got to have a chat with The Yellow Goal Machine himself, Martin Gritton, before being inspired by Radio Devon stalwart Harry Salvidge into a jaunt to Vicarage Road for Watford 1, Rotherham 1.

Another commentary legend, Paul Mulhern, had a shocker: he was victim of a bump and run leaving his car damaged and in need of an expensive repair.

Torquay Groundhopper did exactly what it says on the tin:

“I’d guessed there was no chance of the game going ahead so went down to Hastings. Game’s off as I got off the train there. Get back on the train to Lewes, only for that to be off too, Eventually got a game in at Eastbourne”

Good effort, that!

(Thanks to Matty Hayward, Jules Nixon, Torquay Groundhopper, Paul Mulhern and Harry Salvidge & Thomas Kelly for their memories of this one)

Wealdstone (a)- February 2022:

Another frustrating episode in The Smoke. It was a bit of a long-running saga. Some fencing had collapsed in a game against Dover in January. Restrictions had been imposed as a result. When Wrexham came to town they got the yellow paint out to stop people from standing in areas deemed dangerous. By the time it was our turn to visit Grosvenor Vale the safety authorities had completely lost their nerve. No fans allowed! Russia had invaded Ukraine earlier in the week, and wild rumours circulated that because there is an RAF base nearby the true reason was that crowds were felt to be a security risk! We’ll probably leave that one there. An unsatisfactory draw saw Klaidi Lolos substituted after just 9 minutes! I wonder what happened to him…

(Thanks Luke Hunter, Dom Roman, Chris Wade and our stats man Mark Hirst for reminding me about this one)

Solihull (a)

Matt and Ellis Parkman both sent me their memories of this one, The salient points are that Matt is a huge Torquay fan and greater love hath no woman than Ellis, who supports her husband’s obsession as well as organising the excellent Talking Torquay podcast. We can’t remember exactly when this game was due to take place, but it was a midweek fixture necessitating an after-work dash down the M6 from Manchester. On arrival in the car park the fateful truth was revealed and Matt & Ellis headed for a

less-than-epic cheeseburger in Birmingham City Centre before retracing their journey north, arriving home at midnight. Kirsty Jarvis had a slightly better evening, because she was living a mere three miles from Damson Park, so it was a quick pint in the bar for her before heading home.

Another memory of the Moors is a couple of postponements of our home game in 2020/21 as their players kept catching Covid.

Exeter (h)

No Torquay United retrospective is complete without a contribution from Simon Bittlestone or his Dad Kevin (more of Kevin later…). Simon lives in Hampshire. I joined him and his son on a fresh evening in the FA Youth Cup at Eastleigh earlier this season. The youngster was of course just a glint in Simon’s eye in 2010 (or thereabouts). Simon recalls:

“I remember Dad and me heading down for an Exeter game at Plainmoor that was called off at about Bridport.”

Crewe (a) December 2009

In our first season back in the Football League, under Paul Buckle, we took a good following to Crewe on a Saturday afternoon. Well, not all the way to Crewe. The postponement news filtered through to trains and buses, and what turns out to have been quite a large contingent of Yellows gravitated to Villa Park for Aston Villa 1, Stoke City 0.

My mate Rob is a Stoke fan and he braved the away end whilst Matty, Roy and others joined me in the impressive Holte End. Kirsty joined some season ticket holders of her acquaintance. Big John Carew broke Rob’s heart and sent the locals home happy with a second half winner. I remember slipping and sliding on the way back to the train.

(Thanks to Kirsty Jarvis and Matty Hayward)

Stockport (a) November 2009

Just a month earlier, the magic had had to wait, because despite getting all the way up to Edgeley Park on one of Steve Breed’s famous buses we had to turn around sharpish when waterlogging put paid to this FA Cup tie. Breedy saved the day however, persuading the driver to get us to Ashton Gate in time for an absolute Championship cracker. Bristol City played host to Sheffield United. Not only did Matty and I get to see Gary Speed in his coaching tracksuit, but Blades Centre Forward Darius Henderson had a right day out, scoring all three in a 3-2 victory for the away side.

Very few of the good folk of Stockport ever did get to see the Mighty Yellows that season. Ater another postponement, the Hatters had to beg Macclesfield for use of their pitch. Not many Torquay fans made that trip, and what a treat we missed: Elliot Benyon fired us through with a hat-trick of his own in a 4-0 Moss Rose hammering.

Mansfield (a) March 2004: This was a big game at the sharp end of our promotion season under Leroy Rosenior. When it eventually got played a couple of weeks later, we succumbed to a 2-1 defeat in what might be the highest quality fourth division match I have ever seen. Liam Rosenior in particular had a blinder that evening.

But on a colder night, the postponement curse struck yet again. As so often happens, it was a last-minute decision. I was in the Field Mill pub nearby, and there was general disbelief when the news came through very shortly before kick off. It was a glum coach trip home.

Chris Wade: “I was already in the ground, with a pie!”

Paul Hepworth: “It was called off around 7.20 for a frozen section at the side of the pitch (we’d travelled 12 minutes down the road for that one!).”

Bristol Rovers (a):

Festive football has been known to fall foul of the weather. We were lucky to get our game on against Truro on New Years Day, weren’t we?

This one might have been a Boxing Day late in the 1990s or New Years Day in 2003. Perhaps both games went? Kirsty recalls:

“Remember going to Rovers one Boxing Day and literally as we pulled up and parked it was called off.”

Jamie Holmes gives us this, which maybe does have more of a 90s feel:

“I went to that one. Long before mobiles. Remember pulling over to ring Robers on the way. Game on. When we got there…”

I definitely recall our bus turning round at Cribbs Causeway on one aborted mission. It was certainly wetter than an otters pocket that day, and Google tells me there was definitely a “Mem” Postponement on the first day of 2003.

Scarborough (a) – 1998

Let’s be honest, Scarborough is a fair old poke from anywhere! They never really graced the Football League, even when Neil Warnock was driving them on. I vividly remember one trip when a couple of us- non drivers at the time- persuaded our mate Chris to drive there and back in his Ford Escort. That lad had a heart of gold, and he didn’t swear at all on the way home from a 5-2 drubbing!

Andy Worsley (who had also been at the Mansfield call-off) has sent in this absolute beauty:

“Furthest I got to for a postponed game was Scarborough. There had been a huge downpour around 1pm and we got to the ground just as it was called off. Steward felt sorry for us and went and got us a memento from the club shop where a huge row was taking place between the home manager and the groundsman over why the pitch couldn’t handle the rain.”

Burnley (a)- 1988

This one is seared into my memory. I was at University across the hills in Leeds. Last weekend of term, and my plan was to watch promotion-chasing Torquay at Turf Moor on the Saturday before making my way home to the Bay the following day.

I suppose I got to Burnley for about 1pm. It had been raining all morning, as it often does in those parts. Burnley wasn’t a pretty sight, and the steady stream of home fans walking towards me told the tale. Game off.

I had the bright idea of dashing back across to Leeds and getting a late afternoon train to the south west. I had a three-month open return ticket (remember them?) so it was a viable option. Big mistake. Somewhere near Holbeck things went horribly wrong. A train in front of mine broke down and to cut a long story short I ended up stranded at Bristol Temple Meads, late at night with a couple of suitcases. Never fear. The station staff bundled me into a taxi, and we went cross country (I’m pretty sure it’s the only time I have ever been through Trowbridge) headed for Westbury, where- unbelievably- they stopped the overnight sleeper for me. Thanks to another taxi from Newton, I ended up back in Paignton very early on Sunday morning. I was slightly bedraggled but very grateful to British Rail.

I also made it to Turf Moor for the rearranged game. Sadly we messed up promotion that night when a dodgy back-pass from the original Tom Kelly consigned us to a 1-0 defeat. Home to Leeds that night via a bus to Todmorden!

Plymouth Argyle (h) Boxing Day 1968

Our oldest postponement memory comes from @sempergull Kevin Bittlestone. I’m sure there would have been a bumper gate as we welcomed our good friends for a local derby. Conditions must have been bad though, because as we know they were made of tough stuff in those days, and it never happened.

Kevin hilariously remembers it like this:

“Very icy, I think. We lived in Main Avenue then, so I walked. Ground all closed up. Grandparents were staying with us for Christmas so I was told to grab the milk from their doorstep in St Marychurch on the way home. Did that, then fell on me arse at the top of Chatto Road and broke the milk. These things stay with you….”

I bet they do, Kevin, and many thanks for sharing the story!