Plymouth Argyle Collection (ARG/2)

SWiB Reference ARG/2
Accession Number 19
Coverage Temporal 1966-2002
Type Printed document (reference)

Administrative Detail -

Plymouth Argyle Football Club, commonly known as Argyle, or the Pilgrims, is an English professional football club. The club takes its nickname from the group of English Separatists that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620. The club crest features the Mayflower, the London-based ship, which carried the pilgrims to Massachusetts.

The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first match taking place against Dunheved College (now Launceston College) in Launceston where many of the club's first members had been educated. They played several friendlies against local rivals, Plymouth United F.C., possibly the first ever football team to have the 'United' suffix. Poor performance on the pitch led to it going out of existence in 1894 before being resurrected in 1897. In 1898 it became one part of a general sports club, the Argyle Athletic Club. Much speculation and rumour surrounds the origin of the name Argyle. One explanation is that they were named after the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an army regiment with a strong football side of its own. Another theory is given the respective geographical placements - suggests the name comes either from the nearby public house, The Argyle Tavern, where the founder members may have met, or the local street named Argyle Terrace.[2]

The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903 joining the Southern League. Argyle's first professional game was on September 1, 1903 against West Ham United.

Scope and Content

Collection of contemporary match programmes and fan club magazines.

Collection Catalogue (full) ARG-2_Catalogue.doc

Access

Open access.
Contact us to book an appointment to view the collection onsite or request further information.

Reproduction Conditions -

For reference only.

Related Units of Description

See also ARG/1 Collection of photographs, sketches, paraphenalia deposited by Plymouth Argyle Football Club and WS - Collection of photographs taken (some) and collected by Bill Strauss, Argyle team member during the 1950s-1960s.

Publication Note

See (2002) Guswell, Terry and Chris Robinson., The Argyle Book (Search Room copy available to view)

Note

Description compiled by Stacey Dyer, Archivist, 1 October 2008.


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