Torquay United F.C.

Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed "The Gulls". The club's primary colours are yellow and blue.

Founded in 1899, the club first entered the East Devon League. They went on to win the Torquay & District League in 1908–09, the Plymouth & West Devon League 1911–12, and were admitted into the Football League in 1927 after claiming the Southern League title and second-place in the Western League in 1926–27. They remained in the Third Division South for the next 31 years and were promoted out of the Fourth Division at the end of the 1959–60 season, though were relegated after two seasons in the Third Division. Torquay were again promoted in 1965–66, only to suffer another relegation six years later. They survived re-election votes after last place finishes in the Fourth Division in 1985 and 1986.

Torquay gained promotion after winning the Fourth Division play-offs in 1991, having been losing finalists in 1988. Relegated in 1992, they lost another play-off final in 1998, before securing automatic promotion in 2003–04. They lasted just one season in League One and were relegated out of the Football League after finishing bottom of League Two in 2007. Torquay lost the 2008 FA Trophy final, but won the 2009 Conference play-off final. They spent five seasons in League Two, missing out in the play-offs in 2011 and 2012, before losing their Football League status for a second time with a last place finish in 2014. Torquay were relegated from the National League in 2018, but secured immediate promotion after winning the National League South in 2018–19. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Torquay were relegated back to the National League South and less than a year later, in April 2024, went into administration.

The original Torquay United was formed in 1899 by a group of school-leavers under the guidance of Sergeant-Major Edward Tomney. The newly founded club played its inaugural match against an Upton Cricket Club XI on one of local farmer, John Wright's fields, situated at the top of Penny's Hill, on Teignmouth Road. After a season of friendlies the club joined the East Devon League and moved into the Recreation Ground, their home for the next four years. Plainmoor at the time was occupied by Torquay Athletic Rugby Club in what is a reversal of the modern day situation. In 1904 Athletic secured the lease on the Recreation Ground from United, with League rivals Ellacombe taking over the lease of Plainmoor, leaving United homeless for the first time in their existence – facilitating a return to the farmer's fields on Teignmouth Road.

However the club was on the move once more when the fields were sold to be developed into what would later be known as Parkhurst Road. United soon found another home, sharing with Torquay Cricket Club in nearby Cricketfield Road (a site still used for football in the modern day by South Devon League side Upton Athletic F.C.) for four years. It was during this time that they won their first honour; the 1909 Torquay and District League title. Following this breakthrough for the club, United merged with local rivals Ellacombe Football Club in 1910 and adopted the name Torquay Town. It was then that United finally moved into Plainmoor where they would remain to this day. During this period the ground was shared with the team's remaining local rival Babbacombe. Both sides were playing in the same league, the Plymouth and District League alongside the reserve teams of Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, Torquay Town would later win the league in the 1911–12 season.

In 1920 after the resumption of the Football League following the First World War, United's local rivals Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City were both elected to the Football League as founder members of the Football League Third Division, this prompted a movement in the town to merge the two remaining teams and create a new entity capable of competing at this level and being elected into the new league. After many discussions, Babbacombe at last agreed to a merger, enabling the new club to become the sole representative of the town and turn professional to further its case for league election, the new team was to be called Torquay United again.

In 1921, Torquay United moved from the Plymouth and District League to the Western League; they spent one season there, before transferring to the Southern League for the 1922–23 season. Torquay went on to finish sixth that season and during the summer applied for Football League status, but failed to gain a single vote. They remained in the Southern League until the end of the 1926–27 season. In 1925, the club reached the first round of FA Cup for the first time in the club's history. In 1927, Torquay won their first league title since the Torquay and District League of 1912, winning the western division of the Southern League.

Capitalizing on this momentum, the club once again applied for league membership and were successful this time, joining the Football League Third Division. The town of Torquay had had joined Plymouth and Exeter in the football league at last. Torquay's first match in the league took place on 27 August 1927, a crowd of 11,625 watched a 1–1 draw. The team's first season in the league however, was not a success, finishing their first season in the football league bottom of the table on 30 points and with a goals against tally of 103. Though they were successfully re-elected to the league for the next season. Throughout the 1930s, Torquay struggled against financial problems, they also failed to finish higher than 10th in twelve seasons. When league football was resumed in 1946 after the Second World War, United continued to struggle and finished that season 19th.