Ground: Defiance Field, Antony Rd, Torpoint, Cornwall, PL11 2NH
Owned by: Leased by the club from Caradon District Council
Number Of Pitches: 1 pitch
Teams: St Columba & Torpoint

With strong maritime and naval links as well as a sloping pitch, Defiance Field has many of the features associated with rugby grounds in the region. It's location and name however reflect the unique characteristics of the club that plays there, St Columba Torpoint; providing a base in Cornwall for a team that plies its trade in the Devon Leagues.

Ferry Across The Tamar
A feature of any fixture at Torpoint is the Tamar Ferry. For locals commuting to and from Plymouth this is such an everyday part of life that it is barely worth considering. However for those new to the area or for opponents from further afield it provides an additional obstacle to getting all their players in good time for the fixture. Particularly before the advent of mass mobile communications it was not unknown for pre-match preparations to fall foul of a cock-up in terms of players not being on the right side of the river at the right time!

The ground itself sits just above Torpoint, not far from the naval training base, HMS Raleigh, to which the club has strong links. This has been a good source of players over the years with the added bonus of the occasional Fijian recruit to add South Sea Island flair to their rugby.

It is thought that the name of the ground comes from HMS Defiance, which was a torpedo training centre up the river. There was a football team called Defiance in the late 19th Century. It is not exclusively a home to rugby; a match played in front of a crowd of 700 is described in The Times
account of Torpoint Athletic in the FA Cup in the 1950s whilst today the ground is also a base for the Philanthropists cricket club, the square being adjacent to the rugby pitch.

Fire and Mosquitoes
Defiance is an apt name as there has been difficulties to overcome in recent times. In 2001 the old rugby clubhouse burnt down which meant that while the team could still use the pitches, they utilised hostelries in the town for after match. The new clubhouse was re-opened in 2003 with a
match against The Plymouth Combination and provides a very cosy base for the club. More recently and perhaps due to the sheltered micro climate of south east Cornwall there has been an issue with bugs and mosquitoes but this appears to have been overcome.

The slope on the pitch is lengthways but is nowhere near as pronounced as one remembers or as it feels when playing! In truth it is only the last quarter at the top of the pitch which has a more pronounced slope. The pitch has suffered from drainage problems in the past which meant that postponements were not uncommon, however after spiking this does not seem to be as a much of a problem these days. Indeed the pitch was looking in very good nick indeed when these photos were taken recently.

Columba on The Up
There's an impression that in the past the characteristics of the pitch tended to shape matches there into being fairly low scoring wars of attrition as teams used the slope to their advantage. St Columba & Torpoint have shown that this need not be the case and have played some very good rugby on it in recent years in getting twice promoted to Devon One. The last few years has seen a real resurgence in the club's fortunes after several years of struggle and the club's ambitions have been helped by
securing a 25 year lease on the ground from Caradon District Council which has enabled them to install training floodlights. A touch rugby festival has been hosted here for the last three seasons and this season the club has taken its first steps into the world of junior rugby this season with some taster sessions.

The club has been a valued member of the Plymouth Combination over the years, one of the first clubs to restart after the WWII and winners of the Lockie Cup back in 1951. It is good to see them today in such a healthy position on and off the field at this most unique of locations.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has their own memories and recollections of this or any other ground (feel free to add comments to this article). Any additional photos are of course very welcome.

(Further photos of the ground can be found by following this link)