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Karma: 2 |  | 22/04/46: Swindon (A) Wartime Cup
« Thread Started on Jun 16, 2010, 7:22pm » | |
During the war-years many teams continued playing matches in various ‘leagues’ and cups. One exception was Torquay United who gave up on competitive football until the season 1945/46, the first before normal league action resumed, when we played in the Third Division South Cup.
This was not so much a cup but a league/league/cup competition in that the first half of the season was a ‘mini’ league of Third Division South (North region) teams and another of South region teams that stopped at Christmas. It then started again from scratch for the second half of the season being of the same format excepting that at the end the two top teams of each ‘league’ went through to the semi-finals and then final of the cup competition. A sort of Champions League template!
This is the programme for one of United’s games in that second part of the league, the game away to Swindon Town on Monday April the 22nd 1946.
It's an interesting line-up as all the players, excepting numbers 10 Vallance and 11 Lavers, were in the starting eleven that played the first game of the following league season, the first normal one after the war, away to Exeter City in August 1946.
These two players, Vallance & Lavers, were registered with United and not 'guesting' as happened with many players during the war years, and at first nothing seems to be recorded as such about them.
This seems true of G. Lavers of whom I could find no mention except in the Rollin book on wartime football where it states he played twice in this Third Division South Cup competition but doesn’t appear for United, or any other team, before this season and doesn't seem to appear for any first team afterwards.
But of Tommy Vallance? That’s a little different as he was a player with pedigree and one who I think who should have his name in the United records, as can be seen below.
Tommy Vallance was the son of the Stoke City trainer Jimmy Vallance and grandson of the Glasgow Rangers player and first captain, Tom Vallance, who was also one of the ‘founding-five’ who set-up Rangers. This Tom was to become one of Scotland's great poets & artists and was also known as a fine restaurateur.
During the first few years of the war Tommy actually played for Stoke City in Northern League competitions before being transferred to Torquay United. At Stoke he was great friends with a certain Stanley Matthews and it is said that they would play head tennis in exhibitions to gain a little extra money. This was because Stanley Matthews had married Betty Vallance, Tommy’s sister, in 1934, making them brothers-in-law.
Tommy played six games for us in the Third Division Southern Cup during this 1945/46 season and that appeared to be that. There is no record of him playing a ‘proper’ first team game and none of the record books put him down as a United 'first-team' player as such.
But there is a chance he actually played in the second leg of the re-vamped FA Cup in this season, when matches were played on a home-and-away basis. United played Newport County over these two legs during November, drawing 1-1 at home and losing 1-0 away therefore going out in the first round.
So surely Tommy Vallance should be recorded as having played in the Torquay United first team, if it was only for one FA Cup game. Or does that years’ competition not count for the records?
He went on to play a handful of games for Arsenal before moving out of top-class football.
And is there any connection with local contractors T. Vallance & Son of Liverton who even now sponsor their local Devon team?
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Dave
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Karma: 1 | | Re: 22/04/45: Swindon (A) Wartime Cup
« Reply #1 on Jun 16, 2010, 8:16pm » | |
Great programme Leigh and thanks for putting it up, I expect Jon and Barton are going to be thrilled when they get to see it.
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Jon
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Karma: 0 | | Re: 22/04/46: Swindon (A) Wartime Cup
« Reply #2 on Jun 16, 2010, 11:49pm » | |
I bet that wasn't cheap! Fascinating stuff.
Just to clarify, the first half of the season was the League. The second half was the Cup - although mostly on a "league basis". They were two totally separate competitions.
The similarity of the team listed to that which started 1946/47 is amazing, isn't it? Harrower and Brown for Vallance and Lavers.
The team that drew 0-0 at Swindon was quite changed from that listed - neither Vallance nor Lavers actually played.
JOSLIN
KEETON
CALLAND
COTHLIFF
HEAD
MARKHAM
SMITH
DAVIES
PHILLIPS
KERNICK
MERCER
Vallance should indeed be included on the list of "real" TUFC players rather than on Barton's alternative list (I must answer that post) of "nearly men". He did play at centre-half in the second leg against Newport in the FA Cup - quite clearly a "first class" game. I am quite surprised to see him listed in this programme as the last of his six appearances (5 in the War League, none in the War Cup and 1 in the FA Cup) was back on 1 December 1945. It is also surprising to see him listed at inside left as all his actual appearances were at centre half.
According to Hugman's book, he signed for Arsenal from Torquay (where he was an amateur) in July 1947. He played 14 games and scored two goals for them in 1948/49 and played once more in 1949/50 - all games on the left wing.
It seems unbelievable that he went from playing Plymouth and District League football for us (at the age of 23) to playing for the reigning League champions infront of crowds of over 50,000 in less than eighteen months!
Lavers was a local amateur who played just two "War Cup" games for us - both on the left wing just before the Swindon game.
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Barton Downs
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Karma: 0 | | Re: 22/04/46: Swindon (A) Wartime Cup
« Reply #3 on Jun 17, 2010, 10:22pm » | |
I struggled with the quiz.
And I suspect Swindon was a very different town in those days - as indicated by the reference to GWR Corinthians.
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