John Fort (15 April 1888 – 23 November 1965) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played most of his career (as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

) with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. He also made one appearance for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Career

Jack Fort was born in

Leigh, Lancashire Leigh is a town in Greater Manchester, England, on low-lying land northwest of Chat Moss. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, Leigh was originally the centre of a large ecclesiastical paris ...

, where he played youth football with St Andrew's Mission in the Bolton and District League. He began his professional career with Atherton in the

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

in 1907, before moving to the South Coast to join Southern League

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in 1911. In his three seasons at Exeter, they finished each season in a mid-table position. After three years in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, Fort switched to London to join another Southern League club, Millwall Athletic, thus beginning an association with the club that lasted for the rest of his life. After service in the Dragoon Guards during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Fort returned to Millwall, where he won his solitary full international cap against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in a 2–0 victory on 21 May 1921, Belgium 0 – England 2, 21 May 1921 (Match summary)
/ref> thus achieving the rare distinction of playing for England whilst on the books of a Third Division club. Fort also gained representative honours with the Southern League. In 1920, Millwall (along with most of the Southern League clubs) had joined

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

as founder members of the Third Division. After third-place finishes in 1924, 1926 and 1927, Millwall won the

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

title in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

. Fort retired as a player in 1930 having made 332 appearances for Millwall. He continued to be associated with Millwall for the rest of his life in a variety of roles, including coach, trainer, assistant groundsman and scout. and was still working for the club until a few weeks before his death on 23 November 1965, aged 77. Jack Fort also gained three England caps playing in trial internationals against the home countries. He holds two records at Millwall which are unlikely to be broken. He is the oldest player ever to have played for Millwall in a league match at 42 years of age and he is still Millwall's longest serving employee having joined from Exeter City in 1914 and staying on in various capacities until he died in 1965 a total of 51 years. In 2014 an original musical called The Day We Played Brazil opened at The

Northcott Theatre The Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England. It opened in 1967 and was run until 2010 by the Northcott Theatre Foundation, when the company ceased operating after a pe ...

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

about the 1914

team who were the first football team to play Brazil.

born actor James Cotter played Jack Fort in the musical which sold out its run and played the existing

team and some

legends and some of the families of the original players.

Honours

;Millwall *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

champions: 1927–28

References

Exeter City complete Record 1904-1990

External links

*
Profile on www.englandfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort, Jack 1888 births 1965 deaths Footballers from Leigh, Greater Manchester Exeter City F.C. players Millwall F.C. players English men's footballers England men's international footballers English Football League players Southern Football League players Atherton F.C. players Men's association football fullbacks British Army personnel of World War I