Personality - Joe Flavell


From Moriston Matters, Issue 17, February 1980.

Not many will now remember Bobby Flavell, the very talented and skilful footballer who played for Airdrie, Hearts and Scotland in the fifties, the era of such "greats" as Jimmy Mason and Billy Steele. Bobby Flavell was one of the "Bogota" footballers, those who sought to find their fortunes in South American football. This did not find favour with the authorities and but for this Bobby Flavell would undoubtedly have played many more times at International level.

A cousin of Bobby Flavell, Mr Joseph Flavell has been living in Invermoriston, with his wife Joyce and son Robert, at the Gardens where he is gardener to Mr James E. Grant, since 1977.

Foxton's successful young footballers.

This season has been a very successful one for the Foxton Junior Football Club. They are the
Runners-up in the South Cambs League, having lost only two games. Pictured above, this
enterprising team were also the finalist in the League's Cup Match, but lost to the Cambridge
Hornets Football Club in the final game. Because of the club's success a special Disco was
held at Foxton Village Hall recently, which was attended by about 140 people. During the
evening members of the team were presented with medals in appreciation of their fine
efforts during the season.

Joe's footballing pedigree is of the purest; he was born and brought up in one of Scotland's most famous hotbeds of Junior Football, Blackridge in West Lothian, in July, 1931. His father, Nicol, was a well-known footballer, and Joe himself showed fair promise. But although he played for such legendary Junior teams as Bathgate Thistle and Linlithgow Rose and had a trial for Hearts, he did not quite make the grade as a top-class player. Still football continued to play a major role in his life. During his army career, which began when he joined the Seaforth Highlanders in 1949, he played for his battalion and was selected to play for Scottish Command against the Royal Navy Then on his demob in 1970 when he worked at Trinity College, Cambridge, as a gardener, he trained and coached a local football team in the Cambridge-shire under-18 League, the Foxton Gunners, and took them on to win the Cambridge Challenge Cup, the Pye Challenge Cup and the Cambridgeshire League. Joe also became involved in Schools football in the course of his next post as Head Caretaker at Whittles Ford J. S. School, Cambridge.

Corporal Joe Flavell, of the Queen's Own Highlanders, at present stationed
at Dreghorn Camp spends a lot of his spare time travelling around youth
clubs throughout the Lothians giving sound advice on the art of
weight-lifting, at which he is art expert. Joe is an ex-East of Scotland
weight-lifting champion and holder of Scottish and county titles.
Among his other activities is the running of a dance band, in which he plays
the drums. Married with one boy, he is living in married quarters at
Dreghorn.
But football is only one of Joe's sporting interests. During his early career in the army, when he was a Physical Training Instructor at Fort George, he began to dabble in weight-lifting. This dabbling progressed to the extent that he won the East of Scotland Weight-lifting champion-ship, going on to hold many Scottish and County weight-Lifting records. While stationed at Redford Barracks, Corporal Flavell devoted a lot of his spare time to travelling around Youth Clubs throughout the Lothians, imparting the benefit of his expert weight-lifting advice.

Joe also pulled for his battalion's Tug-of-War team, played the drums in the Fort George Depot Pipe Band, and in later years found the time to form his own dance band in which, of course, he played the drums. Finally his interests ran to the Scout Movement, in which at one point in his career he was Scoutmaster of the 27th West Lothian Scout Group.

Joe's contact with the army is still alive as at present he is Sergeant/instructor 1st Cadet Battalion Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforths and Camerons} instructing in map-reading, weapons and drill with the Beauly Platoon, some of whose members are working towards the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.