Torquay United Fans Forum

The first match I went to was when I was 12 and I watched Lincoln city lose 2-0 against tufc at plainmoor. At the time I hated football, I hated sports. The only other football I had EVER watched was when england played Germany in the world cup (lampard hit the bar and the goal should have counted etc). I remember not wanting to go to the match but when I got into the grandstand, my mood changed. The old grandstand may have been nothing like bristows bench but it did get me into football. I still go with my uncle sometimes to football. My stand now is the popside

Anyway like other have said very few people would give Torquay a try even for free. I have 5 mates go have watched Torquay and only 3 have watched them again and only me and another watch every home match. The fact is I still support Arsenal, but Torquay gives me a buzz every time I enter the ground. The first season under long was the best and if more kids had come then, then they would be interested.

I go to PCC and the team train on our astro often and are friendly enough. However they haven't come into to school to advitise the club. Free tickets etc. There are 2000 people at PCC that is like our home gate. Even if it only attracted 100 more people thats £600 in tickets + food drink programmes etc and if parents come then the atmosphere would be better and the club would be better financially.

Sorry for the long reply.

Well I hope todays kids go free promotion has the desired effect of ramping up a better atmosphere. Heres hoping for a rip-roaring attacking performance and a convincing win for the Gulls. Hopefully we can show enough new kids (and parents with them) what they are missing and they will want to keep coming back for more for many years to come, just like what happened to many of us.

However in my case, it is still the same as when I started the thread, my lad just wont give football a chance properly. He is stubborn and determined not to like it, he is refusing to go today even though it is free for him. I know he would love football if he gave it a try but its like banging my head against a brick wall. Im not going to push it or force him because that will make it worse and I will never get him interested.

I didnt start really taking a proper interest in football until I was 12 and that was when I saw my first Torquay match but I was hooked from then on and didnt miss a home match for years. My son liked his first game (earlier in thread) but then after the next one the enthusiasm wore off. He has refused to go since. He plays football at school a lot more now and I am hoping that will spark something.

Anyway, lets hope todays kids free promo has the desired effect.

For any of you with kids, the Future Gulls are up and running again. For ten pounds membership/joining fee they get a really smart ruck-sack ideal for school, sports etc.(probably worth more than the joining fee on its' own) plus organised events eg just they've had a multi-sport day run by the community coaches where almost 50 children took part and a questions and answers with Alan Knill. Various other events to get them involved with the Club are in the pipeline including a Halloween Party at Plainmoor etc. etc. The Junior section also get in free to all non-category A games, discounts at the club shop etc. See the link below...

http://www.torquayunited.com/fans/junior-fans/

Also worth a look at the Torquay United Football In The Community site to see what's available for the the kids, as well as all of the weekly football courses there are holiday courses and Birthday Parties/tours of the ground, chances to meet players etc. Frank Prince and his team also run courses at local schools throughout the area.

http://www.tufitc.com

To be fair my first game as a nipper was a dire one. We lost to Darlington 1-0 via a late, late Julian Joachim goal and we were essentially down at that point. Although I can't remember which season that was...

thats brilliant, i'm well pleased we are at least getting a few youngsters to convert to the religion of tufc.

i wish i could get my lad as interested or even a little bit as excited as that. he seems to have the apathy disease that most of torbay suffer from.

he hasnt seen us lose yet, 2 out of 3 games he has took in have been entertaining wins. the atmosphere at all 3 games could have been a helluva lot better. although barnet was getting there, not quite, but nearly.

i might take him to an away game so he can see what its really like when the torquay fans get rockin'.

getting a young supporter or any supporter hooked normally does only happen during a successful or winning period. take it for example when a lot of kids choose a premier league team, its virtually always one that wins the league or fa cup a lot.

my dad put it into perspective, he said to me - "if you remember when you started going to plainmoor it was the 2-2 draw with crewe in may 87 when we survived in the league with an injury time goal. the atmosphere that day was unbelievable, especially after the whistle" - he is right, thats what got my interest.

he also reminded me that from the next season we had a great few years under cyril knowles, near promotion, a wembley cup final. then in 91 wembley play off promotion and then a season in a higher division. through this time i was getting addicted to football and torquay united and they had me. so yeah i had quite an exciting start to following the club so its no wonder i became a supporter and stayed one.

my dad said (roughly) - "a few good times or a run of results for the team usually draws new supporters in, its great when we are winning and if the the atmosphere at the ground is good that helps. even if the team never capture that again and times are bad, true supporters keep coming back and they stay supporters, when you start to really care and love the club and the game thats it.

part of the psyche of a football supporter is, they always hope today will be the day, im going to see something, ive seen it before, it could happen again, we could win today, the atmosphere might be great, it could be entertaining. once you have had that good time, you keep coming back hoping it happens like it did and occasionally it does. its addictive like a drug and you are always trying to get that buzz again."

he's become quite a wise bloke my dad.

Went to Saturday's game with an old school friend and his 11 year old stepson. It was his second game,and despite the initial disappointment in his face when I informed him that Poke hadn't played all season (he arrived in his orange goalie shirt with our number one's name on the back), he had a great time. Stood on the popside, I did offer to sit down, and perhaps we should have as he was struggling up to half time, but got to lean on the railings in the second half so he was ok. Winning and scoring 4 clearly helps convert youngsters into fans, and I'm hopeful we have got one here as he was enthusiastically telling his mum all the details after the game and read my programme all the way home.Happy days!

brilliant taxilady, im really glad your grandaughter enjoyed the game, another fan hopefully. well done ricey.

that was the only thing about gilberts dance he was right in front of the pop, so miles away from where i was sat. some of them got it though, which was good.

we were sat in the family stand, right hand side, front row. my dad and the buhy, both decided they wanted to sit, both complaining of a bad knee. old age for one, rugby for the other. so the pop was out.

i couldnt hear what was being said over the tannoy so i almost didnt look over and see gilbert because it was so quiet. it was only when my lad shouted dad, dad, gilberts doing it, look. then they turned the music up.

we were well chuffed and laughed our heads off and high 5'd, my dad was confused at us getting all excited about it, then he said i was a bloody idiot when i explained to him what it was about and i had asked mr candy through the forum if it could be done.

gilbert just has to do it again, that has to become his signature tune/party piece surely.

anyway, the buhy enjoyed the game today, when there was a bit of singing and clapping he started joining in (bonus).

he did get a bit bored at times 1st half and wasnt watching the game, but i tried talking him through things a bit and whipping up a bit of enthusiasm. i keep telling him, there is usually loads of singing, cheering and chanting and its a brilliant noisy atmosphere (well it used to be).

half time, some girls about 15 sat next to him and he kept asking me and my dad to swap seats with him because the view was bad, he sat in an empty seat next to me after a few minutes whining, then he admitted he moved because he is uncomfortable around girls, but when i said "dont be daft", he said he didnt know why - i know why (yaay, he likes girls).

2nd half he loved it, especially laughing at me leaping about and shouting when the 3rd and 4th went in. he was on his feet and cheering first for the 4th though (progress?).

like i said i put my foot down today about him going, but i think next time he might go a bit more willingly. fingers crossed.

now all we need is torquay to play well, make it entertaining and score a few goals every game and i might be able to get the buhy right into football.

took my 6 year old granddaughter today for her first game. She loved it ! Definitely wants to come again. I think she'd have liked Gilbert's dance, but he was right over at The Pop & she couldn't really see him too well from The Bench.At the end, Ricey came over to talk to her when I told him it was her first game; good for him, she loved that as well.

Good stuff chunks, hope you and the lad enjoy the game and see a really excellent gulls performance.

well, here we go then, round 3. i've told the buhy' we're going football today and he's coming, he had a bit of a tantrum because he wants to play his xbox. ive made a few compromises (blackmailing little sod), but success.

he has told me already he is not going to enjoy it. its ike a blatant refusal to like something before you have ever even experienced it. its like when a person says they dont like someone and they've never even met them.

we are going to try the popside today so maybe a different atmosphere will get him into it. lets hope there is at least a bit of singing. he is a few years younger than i was the first time i went on the pop (hes 12 in a few weeks), but its a bit different now to when i was a young buhy watching torquay in the late 80's.

the pop always seemed a lot more rammed back then, there was definitely more singing and rowdiness. also, there was the english football hooliganism stuff at that time, not at plainmoor really though, but because of these reasons mum and dad always said i couldnt go on the pop. i had to watch from the standing area of the grandstand and just imagine what it was like being in the middle over there singing the songs and being one of the lads.

i've told the lad gilbert the gull might do surfin bird (bird is the word) today if we are lucky, so fingers crossed. bit of pre match entertainment.

hoping wth all my heart and praying to the gods of football that we have a decent game today with at least a half decent atmosphere and then my son catches on and takes an interest in torquay united and football in general.

i do think the club should be doing a bit more in schools. i know they do community stuff and school stuff already but maybe a few players and a member of the coaching staff could go into school to do q&a sessions and a light coaching session or kickabout.

we had plymouth argyle do this when i was at paignton college (torquay uniteds catchment area), there were already a few of us who supported torquay so it had no effect, but there were a few after that day that crossed over to the darkside and went to watch plymouth.

i know the club have teams, academies and sessions outside of school time but we need to grab those who havent been interested until now or they havent joined a club or been to a game, take the club to them rather than wait for them to decide.

I have 3 boys and the cost is a big factor as to whether they attend games, their school is also in Newton Abbot to I doubt the club would ever be interested in going that far. Saying that Exeter Chief's recently done a visit to the school and they invited them to a kick around at the clubs ground with a free ticket for the next home game although I had to pay.

I wish you luck Chunks but I fear you may be fighting a losing battle.

Nowadays there is simply every incentive not to go to your local club- even if you like football or not. Football is on TV non-stop all day Saturdays, and a live match is on pretty much every night of the week. Winning 100 consecutive matches on FIFA, or winning League Two on Football Manager is seen as a bigger achievement than learning how to kick a ball, or even going to a football match itself. As a dad there is nothing you can do other than physically picking your lad up and carrying him to Plainmoor and tying him to his seat, which obviously isn't going to have the desired effect.

I stand with fans who are roughly 20 years older than me, all of them have tried introducing their families to Plainmoor, none of them have succeeded. Top flight football is so readily available to the casual football fan through subscribing to skysports that many can not fathom why you would hand over good money to stand on a cold terrace watching donkeys cock up the easiest of passes or shooting opportunities when a lot less money you could stay at home with a cold beer in your hand, or go down the local and watch an illegally streamed premiership match.

I think a lot of these kids will watch Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Utd etc on a Wednesday night in the Champion's League and expect the same at Plainmoor on a Saturday, they can't understand why its not the same in terms of skill, excitement and quality.

I was extremely lucky, my Dad got me into it just at the right time. My first league game was an Exeter derby early into the season. It had everything, an electric atmosphere, blood and thunder, passion, goals, sendings off, it was amazing. I didn't need asking if I wanted to go again after seeing that, I was begging to be taken. We started that season no better nor worse than how we've started this, in fact back then TUFC were well known as one of the worst teams in the football league, I was somewhat fortuitous though that our season unfurled into a promotion push culminating in what is still the best night of football I have ever seen - the home play-off vs Scarborough.

It would be better if we could have our local derbies early on in the season perhaps. Weather still nice enough to not have to wear a million layers, away end full to the brim, atmosphere loud, passionate and exciting, I think this would be a better chance to get the kids interested rather than the empty away end and no atmosphere we had yesterday.

For a kid, it either goes two ways, there is no in between. Either, like me, you fall in love with TUFC, you understand completely that you are supporting a bunch of underdogs and the whole world is against you. That any win in the football league, any goal, any new development at plainmoor, any unlikely signing, is a massive achievement and measure of success, that the one season of joy and promotion will make up for the 20 seasons of pain and despair that pre-ceded it. Or, like many are finding nowadays in this era of Iphones, Xboxes and round the clock football coverage, kids will think 'whats the point, I could be at home watching "proper" football on the box.

I rather feel its out of your hands mate, there is little you can do really, its down to the boy himself. But I wish you luck. Supporting TUFC is unfashionable, I daresay a lot of his mates support Utd and Chelsea, and if that is the case there is very little you can do to show him the light.

well, i started this thread at the end of last season because my son went to his first game vs barnet after i had been trying hard for ages to get him interested in football in general, whether it be playing or watching football, watching my beloved torquay united with me in particular.

today was his 2nd ever match - bear in mind i was late getting into football properly just like him, but my first 2 games were crewe 87 (2-2, the last day, great escape), my 2nd game was 87-88 1st game of the season 6-1 thumping of wrexham, so i had an exciting start and i was converted there and then.

after that i lived, breathed, ate, drank and slept football. i spent nearly all my spare time, day and night playing football with my mates down at clennon valley field, i even kicked a ball around on my own sometimes waiting for the others. if i wasnt playing it, i watched it, read about it or talked about it.

with this laptop, mobile phone, xbox generation its not so easy.

the enthusiasm after the barnet game was long gone, so today was a struggle to get my lad to go again. to be fair he's getting to a funny age, he's 12 in a couple of months. all summer, getting him to do anything other than something indoors and technology based has been a strength sapping, brain draining chore.

like i said earlier from what i have seen and been told by other parents, a lot of the other lads his age are the same.

he does play rugby, that was through someone on my wifes side of the family, he doesnt like watching it though, just playing it. but he hasnt given football a chance.

i have managed to get him out for a kickabout a few times, because i badly need the exercise and he is quite happy to help me there. he does enjoy it, when he gives it a chance.

he loved it at the barnet match, the game, the atmosphere, the result. i explained to him its not always like that, there was a lot riding on that game, the crowd were up for it, we dont always score so many, and we dont always win.

we werent awful today , the first part of the game was exciting as hell, we had plenty of ball and chances, but we didnt score, we didnt win, the atmosphere was as flat as a pancake (see atmosphere thread). to me the game was ok and i appreciated what was going on in front of me. we could have scored a few and the whole day could have been very different.

today, is a sad indictment of how fickle kids are, he wasnt impressed and kept saying he was bored and it wasnt very good, he is going to be a nightmare to try and get him to go again. but then again i suppose that is no different to many neutrals, you can get them to go and as soon as the game is average or poor, the team dont win or the atmosphere is flat then you have lost them.

if the atmosphere is flat though or the team are not setting the world alight, what the hell are we supposed to do. i always used to think if we charged less then we would get a lot more people in and we would make more money, but sadly that has proven to not really work.

the problem isnt money or incentives, its getting someone to feel the magic of watching and supporting the team, its the atmosphere in the ground once they are there and at least seeing some entertainment on the pitch, but understandably watching torquay you arent always going to get those things.

my first match vs crewe, the atmosphere was great, even when we were losing halfway through the 2nd half i said to my dad even if we go down (which looked very likely) can we still come up next season this is great. it isnt just the winning team, glory mentality, its the atmosphere and all that goes with it. its generating interest.

we touched on a few things earlier in the thread that could get people into the ground and the general apathy towards football in the torbay area. also how kids are just plugged into their computers and consoles etc. i think if this is going on in my house, how many other parents are having this problem, or how many kids would love to watch a live game and give torquay a try but there parents wont take them or let them go. i can just hear some
" oh you dont want to go and watch that lot".

unfortunately i dont get to as many games as i would like because i work tuesday evenings, the lads mum works saturdays so he spends the day with me, if i cant get him to go to plainmoor then i cant go. i cant force him to go, even if i wanted to, and if i made him go his mum would kill me. i want him to want to go though, i know once he gets into it he will love it, he will follow in my footsteps. we have so many things in common and things we share and enjoy, this would be great, but i cant see it happening.

help me somebody, what can i do ? if he wont go on a saturday, im buggered!

do i just make him go and then i face down his mothers wrath, he may also probably end up hating football then because i have forced it upon him or do i just hope if i get him to keep going and hopefully playing more he see's sense, i just know he will love football if he gives it a proper chance.

brucie wrote:An excellent thread actually - I forced my two to go when they were six or seven, they didn't have a choice!
Luckily they were always interested and played football, even if my eldest did spend to years at Exeter City when he was 14-16 !!
Anyway it seems to have paid off as they both went to Morecambe with me - even if I did have to drive my sons car there and back as he renaged on a promise not to get pissed on Friday night.
Whilst football might seem a pretty aimless thing to do it really hasn't done my two any harm. Its a great social outlet, amateur football offers good comraderie and it instilled confidence in my two.
Contrast that with my partners 18 year old son whose only hobby is sitting in his room all day, every day in the dark, like a mushroom - socially inept, shooting goblins and hobbits.
Thank god for football thats what I say - anyway I am off to watch younger one playing this afternoon!

Do they share your eternal optimism and sunny disposition?

Matt.

An excellent thread actually - I forced my two to go when they were six or seven, they didn't have a choice!
Luckily they were always interested and played football, even if my eldest did spend to years at Exeter City when he was 14-16 !!
Anyway it seems to have paid off as they both went to Morecambe with me - even if I did have to drive my sons car there and back as he renaged on a promise not to get pissed on Friday night.
Whilst football might seem a pretty aimless thing to do it really hasn't done my two any harm. Its a great social outlet, amateur football offers good comraderie and it instilled confidence in my two.
Contrast that with my partners 18 year old son whose only hobby is sitting in his room all day, every day in the dark, like a mushroom - socially inept, shooting goblins and hobbits.
Thank god for football thats what I say - anyway I am off to watch younger one playing this afternoon!