Ben Gerring

[Dave]

I've watched Scot and the other keeper that played for Bideford the other night as he played for Buckland over the last few tears I think that they would do a job if called on in a one off and maybe a couple of games. But there again you don't rate my views. I am not saying that I would like that to happen though.

No need to cry over it It's got nothing to do with rating another posters views and opinions, we all have our opinions, we like to express them, that's why we're on here and if we all agreed all of the time, this would be one hell of a boring place, half the time differing opinions are neither right or wrong, both sets of opinions can have there own merits.

As for Bideford, totally agree with you, not that I've seen their goalkeeper play, but, from the point of view, that I personally think there will be a number of players around the Southern league premier division who could make the step up and play for Torquay.

As for the South Devon League, lets be honest here, as standard of football competition it's absolutely poles, and poles apart from where our club currently compete, I know the S-D-L very well, over the years I've seen many games at this level, we're talking about teams who's player roll in at 4am Saturday morning from the late bars and clubs, watched a game once where half the team ran to their cars quicker at half time than they had all the first half, I soon realized it was because most were desperate for a fag, can players step up from this level and play against the Wrexham's and Grimsby's of this world, even teams further down the pecking order with ex-football league players in their teams, not a chance.

Saw Watcombe quite a few times last season, Scott Corderoy in most games I saw never faced single shot on target, he just doesn't get tested enough at that level.

[Jack]

This post seems to have moved on to the general state of South Devon non league football and whether there are any local players who could do a job for us in the National League.
I think that it is great for the grassroots game that the SDL is as strong as it ever was when so many Saturday leagues have merged or disappeared altogether. At least footballers in South Devon are still enjoying playing the game, getting some exercise and having a good time with their mates.
I suspect that opportunities for any player who is really above SDL is limited unless they are prepared to travel. Apart from Buckland at Step 5 the nearest clubs are Tiverton and Taunton which are both a good hour away on a good day for traffic. Bideford is difficult, more like a 2 hour trip each way to play home games and clubs in the Bristol area are as easy to get to as Truro. Unless the pay is good enough to compensate for the disruption to family and work commitments I don't imagine there would be many takers unless the player was really motivated to progress up the football ladder.
It is possible that there may be a few hidden gems in the SDL who if they can be motivated with good advice and coaching would reach the standard to play in the National League. We are not looking for Jamie Vardy at this stage!

[Dave]

I don't think the S-D-L is as good, as it was 5-10 years ago in terms of quality, with Galmpton United, Bovey Tracey, AFC Brixham, Stoke Gabriel, Totnes and Dartington and others gaining promotion into the Peninsula league it has left a vacuum, and with the news that Buckland have applied for promotion for both their 1st and 2nd teams, should Buckland 1st team gain promotion, Buckland 2nds will be in the Peninsula next season degrading the quality of the S-D-L further.

To be fair Kieffer Moore played for Paington Saints in the S-D-L, so no one can rule out there being a little gem at this level, and there is a few former TUFC academy lads playing in the S-D-L there's at least 4 at Kingsteignton and I believe a couple at Brixham Town, 1 player released a couple of season ago is now Buckland 1st team squad, and few are at Liverton in the peninsula league, so who knows if any of these could be late developers

That said, in all honesty there is a very good reason why Moore (now playing in Norway) is the only one I know of in years that has made the step up into professional football from that level.

Watcombe don't have a ground so can't apply for promotion, if Buckland go, they'll have no opposition what so ever, as these days Upton struggle, playing and being successful with watcombe is not always a sign an individual with them is going to be good player.

I'm all for local youngsters getting a chance at the club, and the club putting itself right in the heart of the local community, but there's the Peninsula League, and Western league, where you'll find the likes of Willand and other Devon based clubs, got be worth a look before our club starts dragging through the S-D-L.

[arcadia]

You are probably right that standards have dropped over the years but the Western League has dropped as well. I wonder sometimes what Mangotsfield,Weston,Taunton,Bideford and Tiverton are chasing when they would attracted bigger crowds in the Western League which would then be a better league. The F.A have made clubs push their selves to the limit financially and in the seventies the Western League was valued a lot higher I believe it was level 3. this is when the pros. dropped down a league to play.
All these clubs will not attract the crowds to warrant a football league side unless a mullty millionaire is behind them and we know that does not last.
Buckland have ambition but with under a hundred spectators do they really want to progress they would be better off winning things in a better Western League and not have the financial worries. The Western League attracted crowds of 2,000 in the seventies and Tiverton always had good
crowds . I'm sure that crowds would return if football was localized as it was before.
Just my opinion.

[ROADRUNNER]

i think the old south and north system worked well but the crowds will never get back to how they were in those days, when you look back atour crowds when i started going we were pulling in 7-8000 regular, sadly those days are long gone, the only way any club will get crowds back is to win games.
considering the standard of football we are churning out at the moment i think we have been lucky to get 1700, when dave webb was here the crowds were down to 1100 -1200 for many games and that was in the league.
are only hope now is for somebody with plenty of money to come and buy the club and be able to buy some decent players to get us out of this mess.

[wivelgull]

Don't forget both Ernie Pym and the great Tommy Northcott came from local junior clubs.

[ROADRUNNER]

thats true but we also had a good side then.

[Dave]

We're not talking about the rights or wrongs of sourcing players from local junior football clubs, every single professional player out there right now came from a boys, local junior or school football teams/clubs. Every professional football club should have a complete understanding of where the best local youngsters are in their areas regardless of what level of affordable youth set-up they have.

We're talking about the rights and wrongs of sourcing senior players from the south Devon league, through out the years there's been countless fairy-tale stories akin to Jamie Vardy, however, Jamie Vardy wasn't plucked from the local park league, he was discovered plying his trade in the northern premier league, which marries up with my opinion on that leagues, southern premier league counterpart.

To put this into perspective, we have to drop down a further 6 steps from that level before you'll find the S-D-L premier division.

[Dazza]

In fairness to Ben whose name heads this thread he has been playing at a higher level than the SDL and is obviously not short of determination. Nor do I have any problem with the Watcombe lad. Good luck to both. My frustration is that we missed the loan deadline day in respect of professional player recruitment at a time when staring at the League table that seems a very odd thing to be doing. There may we good reason for that but we don't know because no one -Chairman -Chief Exec- Manager - commented then or has commented in any way since. We are left therefore to surmise. At the moment in my view the PR from the Board makes Bill Phillips look like Piers Morgan ! The majority I believe do and would support everything the new Board does but please please give the fans an insight whenever you can.

[arcadia]

Don't forget both Ernie Pym and the great Tommy Northcott came from local junior clubs.

Played against both, you had a good side then.