John Kirby (30 September 1909 – 15 June 1960) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who played for Derby County. Kirby is best remembered as the only Derby player touring Germany in 1934 who refused to stiff arm salute before each game.

Derby County

Kirby joined Derby County from

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

based, Newhall United in April 1929. Kirby debuted for Derby during the 1929–30 season. In 1934 he was part of the Derby side that toured Germany. Kirby defied the German authorities by being the only member of the team to refuse to give the Nazi salute before each game. A photo of Kirby turning his body 90 degrees and being the only Derby player refusing to stiff arm salute, was auctioned for 550 pounds in 2012."Derby County Nazi salute photo fetches £550 at auction" 7 December 2012
/ref> Kirby's gesture preceded

Stan Cullis Stanley Cullis (25 October 1916 – 28 February 2001) was an English professional footballer and manager, primarily for Wolverhampton Wanderers. During his term as manager between 1948 and 1964, Wolves became one of the strongest teams in the En ...

being dropped when responding "Count me out", when directed pre-match to stiff arm salute when England played Germany in Berlin in 1938."Stan Cullis, Jack Kirby and English Football's Nazi Salute", FOOTY ANALYST, 20 July 2018
/ref>

After Derby

Kirby left Derby in August 1938 to become

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of Folkestone Town. He held that role until August 1939, the month before World War II began. He died aged 50 in 1960.

References

1910 births 1960 deaths People from Overseal Footballers from Derbyshire English anti-fascists English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Newhall United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Folkestone F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Folkestone F.C. managers 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-goalkeeper-1910s-stub