The T-Side

Torridgeside  0  Okehampton Argyle  3

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2.50

The time had finally come, after a few years absence, the South West Peninsula League was to finally host another of it’s legendary Easter Hops!

It’s widely accepted on the circuit that the South West event, hosted and organised by the brilliant Phil Hiscox, is the best of the lot, and that’s meant with no disrespect to any other organisation(s) that may also arrange such events. It’s renowned as the best for a variety of reasons, not least the fact that it’s stage in a truly beautiful part of the UK.

I’ve never been to an organised Groundhop before, the sheer thought normally makes me recoil in discomfort, but as soon as I saw the plans for Easter in Devon, I’d made my mind up, my virginity was going to be truly broken.

Starting on the Thursday night in Honiton, the event would them move on to North Devon taking in Torrington, Torridgeside and Holsworthy on the Good Friday, and then on Easter Saturday we would head down the A38 to Plymouth for games at Liskeard, Elburton and Ivybridge.

Five of the seven venues I’d never visited, and with coach travel arranged from Exeter for the Friday and Saturday games, it was the ideal event. Accommodation was booked in Exeter, a full weekend game and travel ticket was purchased, and after a bit of encouragement, I talked Steve into joining me!

The South West has had an absolute mullering with the weather, and having lost a record number of games for that very reason, the South West Peninsula League is now at a stage where it is having to cram games in. In the run up to the event it felt like the conditions were utterly relentless, week in and week out games were being called off in droves, take Liskeard for example, they hadn’t played a home game since December, and no game at all since mid-February! We are about to enter April….

Anyway, the journey down from Belper was in large parts monsoon like, and as much as clubs had worked like Trojans to prepare the pitches and all the other things that are needed from an event that is going to attract attendances way beyond what they would normally get, you were in the lap of the Gods somewhat.

I arrived at the Holiday Inn around 1.30pm, Steve was a few minutes before me. We travelled separately as he was doing the event by car for reasons that will become clear. It was hammering it down, and after checking in we decided to have a relaxing afternoon sampling Exeter. The noises out of Honiton we relatively positive, and as much as we boarded the train knowing that the match referee would have the final say, you did feel reasonably confident we would be getting a game in.

To cut a long story short, after a wee dram in the town, we got to the ground an hour before kick off, the crowd was already pretty large, but it seemed a very small area of the pitch was of concern, and we are talking VERY small. The referee had form it seems, we had an assessor present, and despite the pleas from both teams and indeed from Phil Hiscox, even offering to narrow the pitch to cut the area out, he was having none of it, so back to Exeter we went, and you had to feel for Honiton, this has happened to them twice now on a Hop.

By the way, while on the subject, every pitch the following day, did not look as good as Honiton’s did, just saying…..

So, it was an early start on the Friday, while I trotted down to St David’s to catch the bus, Steve was off to AFC St Austell in the car. I’ve been to Torrington before so I won’t blog it, but it went very well, the game finished 1-0 to the hosts against high flying Crediton United, we were truly underway, and at the final whistle it was back on the bus for a journey of just under a mile to the neighbouring club in the town, Torridgeside!

Torridgeside are a relatively new club, only being formed in 1989. They made waves in the North Devon League, joining in 2003-04, working their way through the divisions before a runners up spot came in the Premier Division in 2015-16, and that ultimately earned them promotion to the South West Peninsula League.

A best finish in the First Division East came in 2018-19 when they finished fourth, and this was more than enough to see them accepted at the new Step 6 Premier Division East. A couple of Covid years interrupted matters, but since normality resumed they have finished 17th and 12th respectively, also competing in the FA Vase for the first time this season, losing at Cheddar in the First Qualifying Round.

This time around, it has been a struggle and prior to the game they sat third from bottom of the table, with the visitors sat in the top six.

The ground at Torridgeside is on the very edges of Torrington, and with the bus dropping us off at the top of the driveway to the ground, you take a steady walk round the edges of the rugby pitch (Torrington RFC) before arriving at the entrance and the very smart new clubhouse that I understand was only finished in the week prior to the game.

Food and drink was readily available, and after a chat with a fella from Shrewsbury who I’ve known for some time (get well soon mate!), Steve rocked up after his journey back from Snozzle and we could do a bit of exploring. Pretty much everything is down one side at Donnacroft, a small seated stand and a further area of cover are in situ either side of the dug outs, while the other three sides, while accessible, were of the grass variety and having done a lap, I was only just about ankle deep at certain points! But, it was a beautiful and picturesque setting, and the pitch, given it was covered in snow the previous morning (I’m not joking), looked in excellent shape. 

The crowd of 451 watched a first half that Okehampton dominated, and indeed raced into a 3-0 lead. You did fear that the hosts were going to get a proper walloping, but a combination of Torridgeside regrouping, and the visitors taking their foot off the gas, we had no more goals in the second period, but, you couldn’t at the same time argue about the outcome of the game.

Torridgeside did an excellent job of hosting the game, and they dealt with the large crowd admirably, hopefully, like all clubs who played the hosting rolls over the weekend, they made a few quid out of it.

But then it was back to the bus, a pitch inspection at Holsworthy had proved positive, we had another game to get to….