Plymouth Argyle Football Club is based in the city in Devon.. As of the 2022-2023 season, the team competes in League One, the third tier of English football, playing at Home Park, known as the "Theatre of Greens", since 1901. Argyle is one of two Devon clubs competing in the Football League, the other being local rivals, Exeter City FC.
Plymouth's nickname, "The Pilgrims", comes from an English Religious group, that left Plymouth for the "New World" in 1620. The club crest features the Mayflower, the ship that carried the pilgrims to Massachusetts. The club has predominantly played in green and white throughout their history, with a few exceptions in the late 1960s and early 1970s when white was the colour of choice. A darker shade of green, described, by some, as Argyle green, was adopted in the 2001–02 season, and has been used ever since. The city of Plymouth is the largest in England fielding a League club to never to have hosted top-flight football. They are the most southerly and westerly League club in England and the only professional club named Argyle.
Originally founded simply as Argyle in 1886, the club turned professional and entered both the Southern League and Western league as Plymouth Argyle in 1903.
The club was founded in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, the first match taking place on 16 October 1886 against Caxton, a team from Cornwall and saw the Pilgrims lose 2–0. Later that week Argyle won for the first time–beating Dunheved College (now Launceston College) in Launceston (where many of the club's first members had been educated) 2–1. They played several friendlies against Plymouth United, but poor performances on the pitch led to the club going out of existence in 1894 before being resurrected in 1897 as one part of a general sports club, the Argyle Athletic Club. In 1898, Argyle F.C. produced its first rulebook. The club's ground was given as Marsh Mills, an area on the edge of the city of Plymouth.
Much speculation surrounds the origin of the name Argyle. One explanation is that the club was named after the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, an army regiment with a strong football side of its own. Another theory is given by the local geography–suggesting the name comes either from the nearby public tavern, The Argyle Tavern, where the founder members may have met, or from a local street Argyle Terrace.
The club adopted its current name when it became fully professional in 1903 joining the Southern League, under the management of Bob Jack, Robert Jack (4 April 1876 – 6 May 1943) was a Scottish international and manager. Born in Alloa, Jack also played for Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and Glossop, and in the Southern League for Plymouth Argyle and Southend United. A winger, Jack is Argyle's most successful and longest-serving manager. During his 29 years in charge, the club won two league championships and established itself in the Second Division of the Football League. Jack also managed Southend for four years.
In the summer of 1924, a Plymouth Argyle team visited South America to play some exhibition football in Argentina (won 1-0) and Uruguay (won 4-0); Uruguay went on to win the first ever World Cup in 1930. They also beat an Argentinian national side 1–0. They then held Argentine club giants Boca Juniors to a credible 1–1 draw. Moses Russell captained the side and played in all nine matches. Russell's style of play caught the attention of the Argentine press; at the end of the tour 'The Standard of Buenos Aires' commented:
"The visit of Plymouth Argyle will be best remembered by the outstanding personality and genius of Moses Russell. His effective style, precise judgement, accurate and timely clearances, powerful kicking and no less useful work with his head...one of the most wonderful backs and one of the brainiest players ever seen on the football field."
In the match against Boca Juniors on 9 July 1924, the Boca Juniors supporters invaded the pitch after their team had scored the opening goal and carried all eleven home players shoulder high around the stadium. After a half-hour delay, the referee restarted the match, but a further invasion was sparked when the referee awarded a penalty against the home side. When the match was again restarted, the Argyle players had agreed that Patsy Corcoran would take the spot-kick and miss, to prevent another pitch invasion. However, the ultra-competitive Russell was not prepared to accept this, and just before Corcoran was about to take the penalty he was pushed aside by Russell who took it himself and scored. This prompted a further pitch invasion by the Boca fans and this time the match was abandoned.
Back in England, uniquely, between 1921–22 and 1926–27, Argyle finished second in the Third Division South, six seasons in a row, thereby missing promotion. Argyle eventually won promotion to Football League Division Two in 1929–30, when they topped the Third Division South, with attendances that season regularly reaching 20,000. Manager Bob Jack resigned in 1937, having spent a grand total of 27 years in charge of the Pilgrims.
His son, David Jack, who began his career with Argyle in 1919, left the club in 1920 and joined Arsenal FC from Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £10,890 – which made him the most expensive player in the world at the time. David scored the first goal at Wembley Stadium in the first ever FA Cup Final goal at the new stadium in 1923, when his club, Bolton Wanderers, played out a 2-0 win against West Ham. Jack scored 3 minutes into the game. A crowd of over 126,000 crammed into the brand new stadium, resulting in gross receipts of £27,776. David's career:
| Senior career* | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1919–1920 | Plymouth Argyle | 45 | (10) |
| 1920–1928 | Bolton Wanderers | 295 | (144) |
| 1928–1934 | Arsenal | 181 | (113) |
| Total | 521 | (267) | |
| International career | |||
| 1924–1932 | England | 9 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1934–1940 | Southend United | ||
| 1944–1952 | Middlesbrough | ||
| 1953–1955 | Shelbourne | ||
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