NO MORE PLAINMOOR?
Left: Players train at Plainmoor in 1938
Buckfastleigh Racecourse grandstand
(then valued at £1,800) for £304, and rent-
ing it back on favourable terms.
Above: Match action in 1939
Southampton when lights were in-
stalled at The Dell in 1951. Similar to
the set-up at Southampton, the lights
at Plainmoor were arranged on slen-
der poles, ten on each side, and each
bearing a single lamp. The lights got
their first use on 1 November 1954,
with a crowd of 7,000 watching a
friendly against Birmingham City.
In 1946, the roof of the grandstand was
blown off once more, while in 1950 the
club expressed an interest in taking over
the lease at Torquay Recreation Ground in
the belief that support would increase at a
more central location. In fact, Torquay
United’s attendances at Plainmoor im-
proved as the 1950s drew on, prompting
the erection of a half-length cover over the
terracing on the Marnham Road side, or
popular side, of the ground. More chang-
es came in 1954 when Torquay United
switched the club colours from black and
white to gold and blue, thinking that this
better represented the sandy beaches and
blue skies for which the resort was famous.
Floodlights came to Plainmoor the same
year, largely at the behest of player-
manager Eric Webber, who had been at
Plainmoor in the 1950s, showing the floodlight poles
Work on the main stand extension
ahead of the Huddersfield game
Later that season, an FA Cup Fourth Round tie
against Division One side Huddersfield Town drew a
record attendance of 21,908 to Plainmoor. The tie
came at a busy time for the club, for they were in the
process of adding a concrete and steel extension to
the main stand. Though some way from completion,
a small section seating 300 was hurriedly made avail-
able for the Huddersfield Town tie.
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