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The original colours were light and dark blue, but after the merger in 1927 they adopted the Newcastle United style of black and white stripes, earning them the name of the Magpies. At the same time they were elected to Division Three (South) of the Football League. They wore their Magpies colours for over thirty years, until the 1954/55 season, when they changed to gold and blue to represent the sand and sea of Torbay. This year saw their greatest ever FA Cup victory. After wins against Cambridge United and Blyth Spartans, Torquay were up against Leeds, and although they lost by nil one to Leeds, for them success lay in the fact that they had got to play a First Division club.

The Gulls run several holiday and after school and weekend courses, at Westlands School, next to Plainmoor, and at various other schools and sports centres throughout South Devon. Soccer Tots can start at five years, and they can play up through the classes until they are twelve. There is a waiting list for some of the indoor classes because numbers are limited, but on the outside fields they have the capacity for far more players. Application forms area available from Reception on 328666. For more information on courses, call Frank Price on 322551.
The club also holds football birthday parties, which offer a meal, leather ball and card signed by all the players, tour of the ground and a game of football. Again, details of prices and numbers are available at Reception.

Boys who show a special skill can try for the Centre of Excellence, whose aim is to bring young players up to scratch for the first team. Training is once or twice a week, with groups for the under tens to the under seventeens. Scouts watch local school and weekend community games to pass on names to the club about up and coming talent. Otherwise, boys can apply direct to Robbie Herrera at the club who is the head of the Centre of Excellence. For boys who are determined to make football a career, the Youth Training scheme is full time and lasts for two years from the age of seventeen. While on the scheme the boys do anything from cleaning boots to training, after which the club hopes they will get their first professional contract, which normally runs for a year.