It’s July 1998. In Paris, the French national team clinch their first ever World Cup with a win over Brazil. England have exited at their then customary early stage, this time in part thanks to a David Beckham red card. In Cornwall, Vindaloo by Fat Les is blaring out of every radio on the beach. And in Ashton, between Helston and Penzance, a six-year old Mark Goldsworthy is spending all day in the garden.
“I was quite shy and when I was finding my feet as a young boy my first memories are just of me, living in my garden, with about ten or twelve footballs lined up just peppering them at goal. We called it The Meadow – dad planted loads of bushes around so it was fully protected. And as I got older, dad, bless him, kept building goals to suit my size. So obviously, you can imagine, they started off very small.”
The 1998 World Cup is Mark’s earliest memory of football. His hero was Ronaldo – “the real one” – and it wasn’t long before he moved from the back garden to playing for the local team. But being nervous and lacking in a certain self-confidence, he needed a push.
“To be honest, most of it is down to down to dad. He pushed me. He knew I was half decent at that age and at primary school in Germoe I started to realize that I was quite a lot better than the other lads around me. There weren’t that many of us so I didn’t have a massive amount of competition, but I always felt like I was ahead of them. I think that built my confidence and dad pushed me over the line to sign for Rosudgeon which was my first team. And from then on I never looked back.”
From there Mark moved to Wendron and after that to Helston where he went to secondary school. It’s a time he remembers fondly, moving up with the boys he’d played with and against in the local villages. At school it was just “football, football, football” and the friendships grew stronger. Helston then formed an under 15s youth team which Mark joined and, in his words, “won everything”.
But then it was time to move up to men’s football.
“Yeah, again, that was Dad, because I was a bit nervous to make that jump to the men’s game. Obviously, as you can imagine, back then in lower leagues of local football you would meet some characters that wouldn’t take kindly to a skinny 15-year-old running around. So, yeah, dad pushed me. He literally just said, right, get your boots on and jump in the car. And I think it was Mawgan or somewhere like that. I just turned up for Helston 3rds or 2nds and came on with half hour to go and scored a couple. And that was the end of boy’s football. I was all in men’s football from that minute on”
Mark went on to have two spells with Helston Athletic either side of a stint with St Austell. He notched up over 300 goals in the South West Peninsular League and was made the Blues captain. In his last season he was well on his way to winning a fourth consecutive Golden Boot before COVID ended the campaign prematurely. As a proud Cornishman, he feels playing football here is special.
“Characters are formed in football down in Cornwall. Everyone seems to know you. And it’s all well and good being successful on the pitch but I think there has to be a part of it off the pitch as well where you have that fun and build those relationships with so many different people. And I think that’s what’s good about Cornish football – there’s a close-knit community. Maybe it’s a bit different for the likes of us that have rattled through the leagues and left behind a lot of local clubs – but they’re still the heartbeat down there, aren’t they? The lower league sides where I go into the clubhouse and have a pint. I always know people there that over the years I’ve built friendships with and they’re still there. And I think that is a vital part of Cornish football.”
Goldie signed for Mousehole in November 2020 and went on to become an integral part of the squad that won the Western League in April 2023.
“That day meant everything to me. I had thought that season was possibly the end of me, with the injuries I had with my head, my shoulder. I thought, No something’s telling me: ‘Just stop. You’ve had a great career down here in football. You’ve enjoyed it. Loved it. And I thought that that was the end. So it was really nice to cap that especially with people like Burty who’s now retired and barely kicked the ball since. At Mousehole it’s such a different culture to anything else I’ve seen. It’s so special in the fact you’re bringing these boys together as one, and we are so different. So to do it with so many different personalities and characters it was just such an amazing day. And obviously doing it on the last day – although it’s not nice before the game – but after the game, that’s the best way to win a league.”
Goldie dislocated his shoulder in the first weeks of last season and through a stroke of luck was treated on the pitch by a leading German surgeon who happened to be staying at the club’s campsite. The injury has plagued him ever since and he’s finally getting it operated on this November. Coming on the pitch at 32 years old, strapped up by physio Beth Prouse and battling to keep his shoulder in its socket, he’s often asked why he carries on.
“I don’t know. It’s a massive addiction, isn’t it – Football?
After the third dislocation up in Melksham when I broke all the bones in there, I remember saying to Ashy that I can’t do it. And he’s like, we need you back. But then I has a few months out and I barely watched the game. But I saw us when we lost at home in the rain – a flat performance with no fire. And I hate losing. I was just looking thinking I can still improve us. I can still bring something. There’s a hole in this team which is sort of my shape. The boys bring all the technical ability – they’re a joke you know. But I think I just help bring that winning mentality to us. So I just knew I wasn’t quite done, even though I was in so much pain, and even though my shoulder’s now gone nine times. I still can’t let it go. I still cannot let it go.”
Mark acknowledges that as the oldest squad member he’s something of a father figure to the younger players – although he admits that, as a Guinness drinker and pasty eater, he’s not a role model! He knows however that after his surgery he’ll struggle to regain his number 9 shirt but he’s leaving his options open until he has to make the decision on his future. But he’s sure of one thing -his focus going forward will be on his own family. Mark’s two sons were there at Trungle when Mousehole won the league and his eldest still talks about that day, running around the pitch in the green smoke of the flares. Although the future is unclear, Goldie knows until the last minute he’s going to give his all to the club.
“I think I still offer something, because I know I’m helping the boys. And when the day comes and I know I stopped helping them, and I bring nothing, and I’m a negative effect on the pitch. That’s me done. But until then I want to be a leader. I want to lead the boys. I’m old-school. We don’t really have that old-school mentality or behaviour, straight talking. That’s not really a thing in modern football. But I just think that that’s what I bring and that is rubbing off on the boys. I’m at the stage where I don’t want to think about no football whatsoever in my future, but I do think when I stop playing, that will be me. And then hopefully one or both of my little boys will get into it, and I can just go and watch and have another pint.”
