Sport in Plymouth, Devon, England, dates back to the 19th century with its first club, Plymouth United F.C., being founded in 1886. It is the largest city in England never to have had a football team in the first tier of English football. It is home to Plymouth Argyle Football Club, who play in the Football League One (third tier of English football) at the Home Park stadium in Central Park. It is Plymouth's only professional football team, however the city used to have another team called Plymouth United F.C. dating back to 1886.[1] The club takes its nickname from the group of English non-conformists that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620: the club crest features the Mayflower, which carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts and the club's mascot is named Pilgrim Pete.
Plymouth Albion play professional Rugby Union currently competing in the third tier of Professional English Rugby the National League 1. They play their home games at The Brickfields. Other semi-professional and amateur clubs include armed forces team Devonport Services who play in the Tribute Western Counties West (tier 7), Plymstock Albion Oaks and Plymouth Argaum, both of whom play in Tribute Cornwall/Devon (tier 8). Additionally there are also many junior rugby union clubs playing in regional, Devon and Plymouth Combination leagues.
Plymouth Gladiators are a speedway team who reformed in 2006 after closing in 1970. The club are members of British National League, with home meetings taking place at the Plymouth Coliseum. The first track in Plymouth was located at the Pennycross Stadium in the Pennycross area and this operated both sides of WWII. The site was redeveloped for a school. Another Motoring event in the city is The Plymouth-Banjul Challenge is an annual car rally for charity, similar to the Dakar Rally.
Plymouth Cricket Club has teams at all levels. As of December2007[update] it was threatened with eviction from its home at Peverell Park.[6] Other cricket clubs are at Plympton and Plymstock.
Plymouth Mariners adult baseball club play in the newly formed independent South West Baseball League alongside the Torbay Barons, Bristol Bats and the Exeter Spitfires. They play all their home games at Wilson Field in Central Park, Plymouth.
Among the several hockey clubs in the city is Plymouth Marjon Hockey Club, one of the South West of England's largest and most successful hockey clubs, which is also based at UCP Marjon. Other prominent clubs include PGSOB, Devonport Services, OPM, Mannamead Ladies and Plym Valley Ladies.
Plymouth and District Netball League is one of the biggest and most competitive in the country with junior and senior sections. Lacrosse is also enjoying a revival particularly among university students.
Water sports
Inshore and offshore yacht racing is organised from the Royal Western Yacht Club at Queen Anne's Battery and there is a thriving coastal and cross channel passage racing calendar. The long-established Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club has its clubhouse on the Hoe foreshore and there are several other sailing clubs on the rivers Plym, Tamar and Yealm. Several of these provide members and visitors with weekly 'round the cans' divisional weeknight racing in Plymouth Sound.
There are facilities for other watersports including water-skiing, windsurfing and diving and there is a well-used watersports centre at Turnchapel. There are rowing clubs on both rivers and a growing interest in gig racing. In 2006 after three years competitive inshore power boat racing, Plymouth lost the event to the Solent.
Tom Daley is a diver, who specialises in the 10-metre platform event. He started diving at the age of seven, and was a member of Plymouth Diving Club He has made an impact in national and international competition at an early age.
Plymouth Leander is the most successful swimming club in Great Britain; there are several indoor and outdoor public pools.
There are sea-angling options from boats based on the Barbican and a large number of Plymothians fish from hundreds of spots around the Sound and along the rivers.
Racquet sports
Tennis is played in many clubs; there are indoor tennis courts at Derriford and Ivybridge and outdoor public courts spread across the city including at St Budeaux, West Hoe and Plymstock.
The city has many public and private squash courts, no racquets courts but badminton is widely played.
Target sports
Bowls is popular because of the link with Sir Francis Drake and there are many public and club greens. Plymouth Croquet Club is at Hartley and there is another club at Durnford Street.
There is a golf club at Staddon Heights overlooking Plymouth Sound and a 9-hole pitch and putt course in Central Park. There is a large commercial driving range near Elburton.
In addition to this main venue there were four short lived venues where the racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the NGRC) and they were known as a flapping tracks, which was the nickname given to independent tracks.[9] The first was at Beacon Park from 1928 to 1931. The second was at Plymstock Park which opened on 26 May 1931 and operated only for special gala events.[10] The third was at West Park in Higher St Budeaux and was called the Devonport Greyhound and whippet track. It opened on 10 October 1931[11] and finally there was a track called the Beacon Castle Greyhound and Whippet Sports Ground which opened on 22 October 1931. It was situated near Lipson and the end of Efford Lane, racing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons. One of the favoured distances was 660 yards and they used a trackless hare. Racing ended in 1934.[12]
Other sports
Plymouth Judo Club is one of the oldest in the southwest and there several other martial arts clubs in the city.
Adjacent to the Brickfields rugby stadium is the Plymouth athletics track.
The annual Plymouth half marathon starts and ends on The Hoe.
For skateboarders there is an outdoor concrete skate park at Central Park Youth Park.
Plymouth is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately 36 miles (58 km) south-west of Exeter and 193 miles (311 km) south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England, that compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, following promotion from the 2022–23 EFL League One. They have played at Home Park, known as the "Theatre of Greens", since 1901. The club takes its nickname, "The Pilgrims", from an English religious group that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620.
Plymstock is a commuter suburb of Plymouth and former civil parish in the English county of Devon.
Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.
Devonport Services Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Plymouth, Devon. The club was originally called United Services Devonport and had their first recorded match back in 1904. Devonport Services play their homes games at the Rectory Field and their strip and club colours are dark blue and red. They are currently competing in Regional 1 Tribute South West of the English rugby union league system following their promotion from South West 1 via the play-offs. At the end of season 2021–22 they were 2nd in the league and were promoted to Regional 1 South West.
This is an outline of Sport in Bedfordshire, a county in England.
Plymouth Rugby League Football Club is a rugby league club based in Plymouth.
Brickfields Recreation Ground is a sports stadium and multi-sport complex in Devonport, Plymouth, England. It is run by EveryoneActive on behalf of Plymouth City Council, and is the home ground of Rugby Union team Plymouth Albion of the National League 1, who moved there in 2003, after leaving their old ground at Beacon Park. The highest crowd was 6,871, for a match against local rivals Exeter Chiefs in October 2008.
Competitive Rugby League was established in Cornwall in 2010 by Joe Catcheside, who working on behalf of the Rugby Football League, organised and established an annual fixture between Devon and Cornwall. Until this time all rugby league played in Cornwall had been exhibition matches and featured teams from outside Cornwall. The first match between Devon and Cornwall was played in August 2010. The match is now played annually and is regularly billed as the "County Clash" or the "County of Origin" game and the teams play for the Martin Roddy MBE Trophy.
Devon League 1 is an English level eight rugby union league for clubs based in Devon. The champions are promoted to Cornwall/Devon and the runner-up plays the second team from Cornwall League 1, with the winning team gaining promotion. Up until the end of the 2017–18 season, teams were relegated to Devon League 2 but since that league has been abolished there is currently no relegation.
Devon League 2 was an English level ten rugby union league for clubs based in Devon; with one exception. The champions and runners-up are promoted to Devon League 1, and since the cancellation of Devon League 3 in 2003 there was no relegation as this is the lowest division in club rugby union within Devon.
The 2007–08 South West Peninsula League season was the first in the history of the South West Peninsula League, a football competition in England, that feeds the Premier Division of the Western Football League. The league had been formed in 2007 from the merger of the Devon County League and the South Western League, and is restricted to clubs based in Cornwall and Devon. The Premier Division of the South West Peninsula League is on the same level of the National League System as the Western League Division One.
The County Ground Stadium, also previously known as the Devon County Athletic Ground, was a rugby union, greyhound racing and speedway stadium in Exeter, Devon.
Pennycross Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium in north Plymouth, Devon.
Beacon Park (Plymouth) is the site of a former rugby union stadium on the north side of the Beacon Park Road in north Plymouth; redeveloped into housing called Albion Drive.
The Devon Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Devon in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Devon, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Devon county rugby representative teams.
The Devon Junior Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Devon Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced in the 1888–89 season when it was won by Paignton. During the pre-war years the Devon Junior Cup was open to lower ranked teams in the county, along with the reserve sides of the larger clubs such as Exeter and Devonport Albion. Like the senior cup competition, the junior cup has periods of inactivity over its history due to World Wars, and was cancelled towards the end of the 1950s only to return in the 1986–87 season when it was won by Exeter Saracens. The Havill Plate was introduced in the 1970s for teams knocked out of the first round of the Devon Senior Cup but later included clubs knocked out of the early stages of the Junior Cup – it was discontinued after the 1998–99 season.
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