Longridge football skills champ wins national competition

11:25am Sunday 4th January 2009

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FOOTBALL skills star John Farnworth is celebrating success in a national competition – thanks to a 30-second video clip he shot in his back garden.

World football freestyle champion John, 22, from Longridge, entered the footage in a competition run by Sky TV’s Soccer AM after being tipped off about it by a friend.

And the clip, featuring some of John’s most impressive moves, wowed the judges so much that they gave him first prize – a £28,000 top of the range Nissan Navara.

The former St Cecilia's High School, Longridge, pupil said: “One of my friends emailed me to tell me about the competition and sent me the link.

“It was one of those things where I went out into the garden with my camcorder, filmed it and sent it off and then forgot about it.

“When somebody rang me to say I had won I thought it was a wind-up but the more I think about it, every freestyler in the UK entered, so to win is a great achievement.

“It’s the first time I have won a competition where it hasn’t relied on me performing live. When my friend finds out I have won he’ll probably want me to let him drive around in the prize – but he’s down in London, so there’s not much chance of that!”

The Sky competition asked people to send in clips of themselves performing a sports skill - from keepie-uppie to snowboarding –that gets them respect.

Football Freestyle is performing tricks with a football whilst keeping it in the air.

John is in the newly-published Guinness World Records book for performing 83 ‘Around the Worlds’ - passing the foot completely around the ball without letting it touch the ground - in one minute.

John has also worked with Mitre to design a new ball which will help other freestylers emulate his tricks.