Dissolved 1921 Founded 1903 | 1920–21 8th Grounds Plainmoor, Torquay | |
Full name Babbacombe Football Club League Plymouth & District League | ||
Babbacombe Football Club was an English football club based in Torquay, Devon. The club existed from 1903 until 1921 before merging with Torquay Town to form Torquay United.
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History
Formed in 1903, Babbacombe joined the Torquay & District League at the start of the 1904–05 season. Becoming champions on three separate occasions between 1904 and 1908, the league also included local rivals Ellacombe and (later) Torquay United. By 1910, there was feeling throughout the town of Torquay that their three most successful football teams should amalgamate in order to create a single professional club. Although Babbacombe refused to take part in a merger, Torquay United and Ellacombe agreed to pool their resources and became Torquay Town. Ironically, despite wishing to remain independent, Babbacombe now moved from their Walls Hill home to Plainmoor in a groundshare arrangement with Torquay Town.
Both Babbacombe and Torquay Town joined the Plymouth & District League at the start of the 1910–11 season. However, while Torquay Town initially flourished in their new league, Babbacombe struggled to compete. In the 1911–12 season, Babbacombe finished bottom of the table while their newly created rivals were crowned champions. Despite this, by the 1913–14 season, Town's form began to suffer and they finished below Babbacombe in what was the Plymouth & District League's final season before the outbreak of World War I.
When the league resumed in 1919, Babbacombe again ended the season above their local rivals. Nevertheless, when Devon's two most successful teams, Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City, became founder members of the Third Division South in 1920, the desire for Torquay to have a Football League club of its own became too great even for Babbacombe to resist. So, at the end of the 1920–21 season, Babbacombe merged with Torquay Town and, after reviving the name of Torquay United, were eventually elected into the Football League in 1927.