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Sports Facilities beyond Morchard Bishop
Exeter City or the Grecians (www.exetercityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Home) has the distinction of being the first club to play Brazil in 1904 as part of a bizarre FA authorised initiative to bring football to South America . They lost and the fortunes of the two sides have diverged ever since. Sadly two years ago, City lost their League status and now languishes in the Nationwide Conference and has also been beset with financial problems, despite the efforts of both Uri Geller and Michael Jackson. It is, however, an old-fashioned and friendly club with families welcomed in the old wooden stand and well worth a Saturday for Dad and any young football fan. Torquay Unitedwww.torquayunited.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Home has made it to the old third division, but has also achieved nothing in a long history and is probably not worth the journey unless you are very eccentric or are planning to visit Peter Cook’s birthplace. Finally, there is Tiverton Town , www.tiverton-town-fc.co.uk/ who play in the Southern Football League. The Yellows have a small, but passionate following and are renowned as Cup fighters with stirring runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase, though their league form has dipped off recently. It could be said that rugby has a larger and more enthusiastic following than football in the region, but again the epicentres for excellence are in the north ( Bath , Gloucester and Bristol ) or increasingly Cornwall with the rise of Launceston and Penzance and Newlyn. Exeter Chiefs is best local side, playing in National League One. (www.exeterchiefs.com) If you want to play cricket, you will be surprised how few clubs there actually are in this part of rural England . The club in Morchrad Bishop folded several years ago. However, if you want to play at the highest possible standard and share the field with outrageously talented young Australians and South Africans, you could try Sandford, near Crediton, Devon League champions for the last two seasons. Nearby Shobrooke Park is also a good standard and is an equally lovely parkland setting. If you are instead looking for something more timeless and in the village tradition, then try Chulmleigh www.chulmleighcricketclub.co.uk/home/ which has a thatched pavilion, huge vistas towards Dartmoor, superb teas and play only friendlies against local villages and touring sides. All standards are welcome. (Telephone David Gidney on 01363 84739 if you would like to play). Watching first class cricket involves a trip to Taunton to see Somerset though this one of the best batting pitches in the country and with very enthusiastic supporters so it is well worth it www.somersetcountycc.co.uk. Devon put out a respectable minor counties team though the best chance of seeing top players here is if they make it to the early rounds of the limited overs knock-out competition (where they are then eliminated). This is a good source of information for cricket in Devon : www.devoncricket.co.uk/clubs/clubs_association.htm If you like the sport of kings but without the toffs and with more mud than Ascot sees in a decade, then try out the racing at Newton Abbot (www.newtonabbotracing.com/home) Devon and Exeter (www.exeter-racecourse.co.uk/) and Tauntonwww.tauntonracecourse.co.uk) Swimming pools for public use and all offering lessons:
There is a lot of golf within a fifteen mile radius for all abilities:
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