Friday 29th March 2024 ko 15:00

South West Peninsula League Premier East

TORRIDGESIDE 0

OAKHAMPTON ARGYLE 3 (Rowe 8 12 Mortimore 22)

Att 451

Entry £6

Programme £2.50

The cavalcade moved to the outskirts of Torrington, and the programme enthusiasts greeted the car park attendents as old retainers. They’d been here earlier, before the Torrington game to make absolutely, doubly certain they got a programme. They needn’t have worried, the club had more than enough to spare, even for the hoppers who’d decided to go off-piste to Ilfracombe but had been forced to turn tail when they discovered the game was off due to waterlogging.

Despite the difficulties Phil had with Honiton, and on previous GroundhopUK events you are still far more likely to see a game take place on an organised event- the clubs know how much is riding on it. But notwithstanding the few bonus attendees it was also good to see Torrington FC’s squad supporting the event, and they were at the Holsworthy game that evening too. Good on them!

If Torrington are the established club in the town, then Torridgeside are very much the upstarts, dating from just 1989. They do have a different ethos, looking to build from youth football upwards, the comparison I found myself making was with Brommapojkarna of Stockholm the biggest club in the world, by players under their umbrella. I’m sure Torridgeside feel their influence.

It was clear that a lot of work has gone into Donnacroft so it passes muster for Step 6, and I’m sure more is to come. The new clubhouse proved its worth as the club worked hard to satisfy the post-lunch rush, and I promise any groundhop organiser will be be pleased with an attendance of 451! People found vantage points, some more unsual than others but from a Torridgeside perspective the only issue was the game itself.

Put simply Okehampton won the game in twenty minutes, and simply played out the rest of the game without any great worry. But as the crowd took their last few photos and thought about the final game of the day the kudos went to Torridgeside; they’d done a wonderful job.