Falmouth Town Football Club`s older fans will have been saddened to hear of the recent passing of Roy Mallett, one of their most iconic players.

Roy joined Falmouth Town in 1958 when Bickland Park was but a year old, having sold their previous ground to Shell Mex & B.P. (now Falmouth Park & Float) for a fortune.

The club was going places fast and Roy was the first major signing (alongside Ron Shorthouse) as a new professional era was being ushered in, driven by club Chairman Desmond Benson, owner of the St Michaels Hotel.

Roy was with Plymouth Argyle and was wanted by Southern League Yeovil Town but Mr Benson “sold” Falmouth Town so well he signed on!

Other ex-Football League players to quickly arrive during that season were Johnny Maw, George Willis (ex-Argyle), Danny Sullivan (formerly with Crystal Palace) and, as luck would have it, Jimmy “cannonball” Coates, an England Amateur international who was stationed at R.N.A.S. Culdrose. Others soon followed.

Roy was an immediate success. He was an imposing 6’ 4”, was brilliant in the air and was unorthodox at the time as he always played the ball out constructively. Something different from the “blood and thunder” centre halves of the day. Roy also played as the sole central defender – no back four required! – allowing an extra attacking player.

He stayed with the club for over a decade, making 386 appearances in all, before retiring from playing in 1969 when he became Manager of Liskeard Athletic.

With Roy as the “lynch pin” Falmouth Town re-wrote the record books year-on-year.

His first season saw Town win the South Western League Cup at St Blazey, beating Truro City 6-3, and finish second in the league.

He was instrumental in the club winning an unprecedented treble in 1961/62 S.W.L. champions for the first time, the S.W.L. Cup and the first Cornwall Senior Cup win in front of 10,000 fans (yes 10,000) at St Austell by a record 7-1.

The medals continued to flow but probably the most satisfying was his leadership in getting Falmouth Town into the first round proper of the F.A. Cup on three occasions against Oxford United and Peterborough United twice.

We will not see his like again. A great club man who could have had a long career in the Football League, but he chose Falmouth Town!