WRITTEN BY MIKE TRUSCOTT

One of Falmouth’s best-known sporting and business figures - who was a “local hero” in one of the biggest matches in Cornish soccer history - has published his life story in aid of Cancer Research UK.

John Garwood was Falmouth Town’s only local amateur in the otherwise Plymouth-based team of part-time professionals who lost 2-1 to Oxford United, then in the old Fourth Division, in the FA Cup First Round Proper in November, 1962.

The game attracted a crowd of 6,000 and Falmouth remain the only club ever to reach this stage of the competition.

In his autobiography, Second To None, John, now 81, recalls the epic build-up to the Oxford match and all the inside drama of the big day itself.

The book’s illustrations include one of his treasured possessions, a Daily Express back page which led with a match preview, including a photograph of him training on his own at the club’s Bickland Park ground.

Long before the present social club was built beside the ground entrance, John had to climb over the 8ft wall to get in and out of the ground for his solo training, with the rest of the team training in Devon.

Remarkable as it may seem now, John recalls: “Nothing special happened, or was said, in our dressing room before we took the field against Oxford. That was the way it was then. All the players except me, all the Plymouth-based lads, would have come down on their coach, and any pre-match pep-talk, or anything near to that, would have taken place on that coach.

“In any case, this was long before the concept of ‘total football’ came on the scene. I was ‘just’ a defender; the attacking part of the team was generally considered that little bit more important.”

John, a Falmouth newsagent for some 50 years, later played for Falmouth Docks and recalls competing against a teenage Tony Kellow in the Cornwall Combination League. Kellow, from Budock, went on to become a goalscoring legend with Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, among other League clubs.

“He was still very much a lad, albeit one with obvious outstanding potential, when I came up against him,” John writes.

“Well, I may never have taken money from the game, but I was not averse to employing a few ‘professional’ tactics to get the better of my opponent. Basically, I talked to Tony a lot during that game. By talking, I mean verbal intimidation.

“It clearly had an effect, because word reached me that at half-time young Tony had complained to his team manager that I was putting him off his game and could he change over to the other wing, please?

“Sure he could. So he did . . . and when I saw what had happened, I immediately went over to the other side of the pitch and carried on where I had left off.

“I clearly got through to him – upset him – because in all honesty my memory is that I got the better of him that day . . . which many defenders in much higher leagues in later years would not be able to claim.

“I’m pleased to say that Tony bore me no long-term grudge and we became quite friendly in later life. Tony’s death, at 58 in 2011, was a very sad loss.”

As well as his sporting life, he is also a keen golfer, and many years in business, John’s autobiography recalls the ups and downs of his early army career and takes the reader back to the war years of his childhood, when he came close to losing his life almost before it had begun.

? Second To None has been written in collaboration with retired Cornish journalist Mike Truscott. He and his wife Janet have also sponsored the project. The limited-edition book, personally signed by John, is now on sale exclusively at the Falmouth shop of Cancer Research UK in Market Street. It can be bought by mail order from the shop, 01326 212905.