We're saddened to hear of the death of John Balson who passed away today, (Sunday 10 March) in the Queen Alice Hospice in Esher where he'd been for the last few days after complications following brain surgery. He would have been 79 on Tuesday.
John was just recently elected a member of the exclusive Corinthian club two weeks ago for his services to the club over 50 years. He was much moved by the formal letter from the club but sadly never saw the tribute in this weekend's match programme. Vice President David Harrison had planned to pass him a copy when visiting the hospice today.
As a tribute to John the text from the article is written below. Further news regarding funeral arrangements will be posted in due course.
From all at Corinthian-Casuals, we're deeply saddened at the loss of John - a true Corinthian in every aspect and we were delighted to bestow the club's ultimate honour in recognition of his services and generosity over the past half century.
John Balson - A Corinthian Tribute
By David Harrison. As written in 9th March matchday programme.
The Committee have with great pleasure elected John Balson to the elite group of Corinthian members of the club for his services over many years. He joins club President Micky Stewart and Schools team stalwart Brian Wakefield, two of the current four, now five Corinthians. Micky summed up the award: "John was a fast strong running winger; but you should never leave out the word 'Corinthian' when referring to John Balson".
John has served the club in many ways, starting with an early match in the "A" team in 1962 when he scored 5 goals. Born on 12 Mar 1940 he went to St Clement Danes G.S in West London - a school that has produced several outstanding C-C footballers, including Joe Bateson and Clive and Joe Banbury. He went on to Exeter University in 1958 where he spent 4 years reading Maths, Chemistry and Psychology. He finished with what he called "a football degree" and went on to teach for four years at St Nicholas GS in Northwood. He was very proud that a number of his school football team - some in the "D" stream - regularly did well in their Chemistry "O" levels thanks to his teaching.
John then moved to IBM, the International Business Machines Corporation, where he was an instructor over many years in the whole range of computer technology. This involved travel all over the world, including three years in Australia and - he calculates - some 160 countries, including most of the Middle East. No wonder, therefore, that his football career was pretty spasmodic. He was also an accomplished athlete, competing for Southall A.C in the triple jump in the national Amateur Athletic Association Championships.
During his early years be played some games for Wycombe Wanderers, his local team, before joining Corinthian-Casuals. He went on a First Team tour to Cornwall in 1975 when Micky Stewart was manager. Stuart Inger, also a teacher and friend, was on that tour; he described John as "very fast and fit....he created many chances for himself with his speed in and around the box and converted a lot of them with random parts of the body; sometimes head and feet were an irrelevance to this goal machine."
In the 70s John played most of his football in Corinthian-Casuals' "A" team, which also he ran for several years. In 73/74 he played 31 games and scored 56 goals; in 74/5 15 games and 20 goals. In 75/6, led by John, the team won the Surrey AFA Junior Cup, the Argonaut Trophy and the Argonaut Shield. The Argonaut competition includes Oxford, Cambridge and London University, also the Civil Service. In 76/7, scoring 24 goals in 14 games, John captained the "A" team to a further victory in the Argonaut Trophy. The same season he took over as Hon Sec to the Reserves, scoring 5 goals in 19 games.
He then went on to play irregularly for the Schools Team over a period of some ten years. Brian Wakefield remembers him as "very quick, playing wide on the right, scoring a lot of goals." He especially recalls a hat trick by John at Malvern in a 3 v-3 draw. Later John began a new job, which he enjoyed for 10 years, teaching bridge on liner cruises around the world, setting his passion for travel alongside his enthusiasm for bridge.
Throughout all these years John has been a regular and generous contributor to all the club's fund raising efforts - the Christmas Draw, End of Season Supper, Car Park development and foreign tours - often making a crucial difference between profit and loss. This February he wrote a cheque for
£6000 towards the First team's visit to Hungary, scheduled for the coming close season and costed at £8500. So at a stroke John has ensured that the tour will go ahead, a enormous boost for manager James Bracken and his players.
For all these mighty efforts for Corinthian-Casuals over so many years, on and off the pitch, we would like to offer John thanks from all of us at the club and are now delighted to welcome him as a member of the exclusive Corinthians, as a measure of our esteem.
John was just recently elected a member of the exclusive Corinthian club two weeks ago for his services to the club over 50 years. He was much moved by the formal letter from the club but sadly never saw the tribute in this weekend's match programme. Vice President David Harrison had planned to pass him a copy when visiting the hospice today.
As a tribute to John the text from the article is written below. Further news regarding funeral arrangements will be posted in due course.
From all at Corinthian-Casuals, we're deeply saddened at the loss of John - a true Corinthian in every aspect and we were delighted to bestow the club's ultimate honour in recognition of his services and generosity over the past half century.
John Balson - A Corinthian Tribute
By David Harrison. As written in 9th March matchday programme.
The Committee have with great pleasure elected John Balson to the elite group of Corinthian members of the club for his services over many years. He joins club President Micky Stewart and Schools team stalwart Brian Wakefield, two of the current four, now five Corinthians. Micky summed up the award: "John was a fast strong running winger; but you should never leave out the word 'Corinthian' when referring to John Balson".
John has served the club in many ways, starting with an early match in the "A" team in 1962 when he scored 5 goals. Born on 12 Mar 1940 he went to St Clement Danes G.S in West London - a school that has produced several outstanding C-C footballers, including Joe Bateson and Clive and Joe Banbury. He went on to Exeter University in 1958 where he spent 4 years reading Maths, Chemistry and Psychology. He finished with what he called "a football degree" and went on to teach for four years at St Nicholas GS in Northwood. He was very proud that a number of his school football team - some in the "D" stream - regularly did well in their Chemistry "O" levels thanks to his teaching.
John then moved to IBM, the International Business Machines Corporation, where he was an instructor over many years in the whole range of computer technology. This involved travel all over the world, including three years in Australia and - he calculates - some 160 countries, including most of the Middle East. No wonder, therefore, that his football career was pretty spasmodic. He was also an accomplished athlete, competing for Southall A.C in the triple jump in the national Amateur Athletic Association Championships.
During his early years be played some games for Wycombe Wanderers, his local team, before joining Corinthian-Casuals. He went on a First Team tour to Cornwall in 1975 when Micky Stewart was manager. Stuart Inger, also a teacher and friend, was on that tour; he described John as "very fast and fit....he created many chances for himself with his speed in and around the box and converted a lot of them with random parts of the body; sometimes head and feet were an irrelevance to this goal machine."
In the 70s John played most of his football in Corinthian-Casuals' "A" team, which also he ran for several years. In 73/74 he played 31 games and scored 56 goals; in 74/5 15 games and 20 goals. In 75/6, led by John, the team won the Surrey AFA Junior Cup, the Argonaut Trophy and the Argonaut Shield. The Argonaut competition includes Oxford, Cambridge and London University, also the Civil Service. In 76/7, scoring 24 goals in 14 games, John captained the "A" team to a further victory in the Argonaut Trophy. The same season he took over as Hon Sec to the Reserves, scoring 5 goals in 19 games.
He then went on to play irregularly for the Schools Team over a period of some ten years. Brian Wakefield remembers him as "very quick, playing wide on the right, scoring a lot of goals." He especially recalls a hat trick by John at Malvern in a 3 v-3 draw. Later John began a new job, which he enjoyed for 10 years, teaching bridge on liner cruises around the world, setting his passion for travel alongside his enthusiasm for bridge.
Throughout all these years John has been a regular and generous contributor to all the club's fund raising efforts - the Christmas Draw, End of Season Supper, Car Park development and foreign tours - often making a crucial difference between profit and loss. This February he wrote a cheque for
£6000 towards the First team's visit to Hungary, scheduled for the coming close season and costed at £8500. So at a stroke John has ensured that the tour will go ahead, a enormous boost for manager James Bracken and his players.
For all these mighty efforts for Corinthian-Casuals over so many years, on and off the pitch, we would like to offer John thanks from all of us at the club and are now delighted to welcome him as a member of the exclusive Corinthians, as a measure of our esteem.