John Falconer was a soccer player from Toowoomba whose war service was interrupted by a soccer injury which occurred in February 1918. Playing for the 11th Light Horse Regiment in Tripoli, Falconer suffered an injury to his right knee. This injury led to a formal process to see if the incident was worthy of discipline action. According to the witness statements, Falconer was running for the ball when he collided with another player and fell to the ground. The report into the incident declared the injury was accidental and occurred whilst undertaking military duty.
Falconer played soccer before the war, and as a result was added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board in 1918 alongside his older brothers Hugh and James.
He originally enlisted in January 1915, the first in the three brothers to do so, and arrived in Gallipoli in August, only to be evacuated to Malta a few months later with dysentery. When he recovered, Falconer was assigned with the 11th Light Horse and served in Egypt and Palestine before returning to Australia in 1919.
In 1938 he wrote to the AIF Records office requesting to purchase a new set of medals he was awarded at the end of the war. Falconer stated he had lent his medals to another veteran, Alex Tame, to have his photograph taken. Tame failed to return the medals and was later admitted to a mental hospital and subsequently died. The medals were never found.