Former Hibs’ player Duncan Falconer who played over 60-first-team games for the club in the late fifties and early sixties scoring 15-goals has sadly passed away aged 80.
Club Historian, Tom Wright, penned the following tribute.
“Duncan Falconer joined Hibernian from well-known juvenile side Edinburgh Norton in the summer of 1959.
“A versatile player who was comfortable at either inside forward, wing half or centre half, the strongly-built youngster was said to have been attracting the attention of the then-Motherwell manager Bobby Ancell with a view to potentially replacing the long-serving Charlie Aitken at Fir Park, before the Hibs manager Hugh Shaw stepped in to secure his signature.
“After starring for Hibs’ second team – who, at that time, were the highest-scoring reserve side in the entire country – Falconer would make his first-team debut at centre half in a 3-2 victory against St Mirren at Love Street on November 7 1959, and had done more than enough to impress one journalist the following morning, who commented: “A healthy feature of Hibs’ victory on Saturday was the extremely promising debut by the young Duncan Falconer. His sound tackling proving extremely effective.” It would be the first of 10 appearances he would make for the first team that season.
“Although he had accompanied the side on the close-season tour of Germany and Yugoslavia in 1960, Falconer would have great difficulty in securing a regular place in the first team and it would not be until the 1961-62 campaign that he would make a real impact, ending the season as the Easter Road side’s top scorer with 12 goals from just 18 appearances, two more than the recently signed Gerry Baker.
“The late 50s and early 60s had been a challenging time for the club, a time of transition, making it extremely difficult for any youngster to force himself into the side on a regular basis, and unfortunately, during the following few seasons he would struggle to hold down a regular place. His last appearance for the first team was a 5-2 home victory against Queen of the South on March 7 1964.
“Deciding that his future lay away from Easter Road, after just a few games for the reserves the following season, Falconer would head for Australia to sign for the New South Wales side Apia Leichardt based in Sydney, later returning to Britain where he would join the Tunbridge Wells Police Force in Kent.
“In just over five seasons at Easter Road, Falconer would make 63 appearances in all games for the first team including friendlies and tour fixtures, three of them in Europe, scoring the winner in the 1-0 away Fairs Cup victory against Utrecht in November 1962. He would also make 109 appearances for the second team, scoring 10 goals.
“He will be remembered fondly by all who saw him play wearing the famous green and white jersey, and our thoughts are with his family.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
