George Kirby had ‘been around the block a few times’ when Ted Bates added this most robust of centre-forwards to his forward line. He was 28, he knew where the goal net was and utilised many means, some of them perfectly legitimate, to find it.

A few months after his arrival he had hit a hat-trick within four minutes when Middlesbrough were beaten 6-0 in November 1962.

But it wasn’t so much for his scoring that he became, in his relatively short time at The Dell, something of a legend. George liked to intimidate with his crudeness on the pitch, crudeness of a kind that could injure an opponent. Ask ex-Saint assistant manager and President, John Mortimore about his broken jaw that ended his career. Not that you’d get John to recriminate on the record. And not that George had a reputation for leading with his elbow. 

But he was wont – as Ron Reynolds recalled – to go in late, whether on goalkeepers in the air or on defenders as they cleared their lines.

Ron instanced George’s Dell debut against Chelsea (and Mortimore) in September 1962, when he immediately took out Eddie McCreadie and later had a go at Peter Bonetti. It was, though, his alleged harassment of the Forest goalkeeper, Peter Grummitt, in a 6^th Round FA Cup replay later that season, that ensured George Kirby entered Southampton folklore – but folklore so often owes something to distortion and that memorable night at The Dell is no exception. First, let’s not forget that the Terry Paine lob that earned the draw at the City Ground was set up by “a helluva pass” from Kirby – one of which Ken Wimshurst, the playmaker, would ‘have been proud’. 

Secondly, Grummitt is not complaining about the replay. Yes, George roughed him up; but this was 1963, when goalkeepers knew they were “going to get hit, but it was always fair and square … it wasn’t that dirty”. A final witness is match referee, Denis Howell, who had a calming word with George, after an early foul, and had no problems with his subsequent antics. Perhaps the writer and cricket commentator, John Arlott is the best neutral witness as he described Kirby “needling away”, relying upon an “incessant stream of crosses” from Paine. 

A service from which George regularly benefited as Terry would lure the `keeper to the near post and float the ball to him at the far stick: “I was deadly from a yard”, George gratefully recollected in 2000 just before his death in West Yorkshire.

Arlott’s example, there, of the ‘balance, that Cliff Huxford loved to recall, in that cup-running XI of 1963.  But, then, George Kirby was a balancing act in himself as Denis Howell elaborated:

“a perfect gentleman off the pitch and a wonderful chap to talk to”, but he could be “like a demon possessed” once he got on it.

George did, then fall firmly into that category of player – John McGrath would later be another – who played tough on the pitch but was someone off it in whose mouth butter wouldn’t melt. Eighteen months after his arrival the nomadic George was off around the block again and his subsequent lengthy and varied management and coaching C.V. suggests there was a lot more to him than a mere back-post bully.

Plymouth supporter and historian, Steve Rhodes remembers Kirby’s departure well, as a fan he was heart-broken  and he contextualised the circumstances in his own profile of George.

If I (Steve Rhodes) was concerned, that was probably nothing as to how Argyle goalkeeper Dave Maclaren and centre-half Gordon Fincham must have felt. It was one thing to have watched George rampage through opposition defences, leaving a trail of broken jaws and noses, cheekbone fractures and countless cuts and bruises, but quite another to realize that come Easter 1963 he would be headed in their direction twice in four days.

   George was a strange mixture. Once he pulled on a football shirt he went from genial to Geronimo. Pleasant, affable and articulate off the field, once he laced his football boots he became a one man war-zone. In George’s on-the-field world, head, elbows, forearms, knees and studs were legitimate weapons. His skill of arriving fractionally late meant that he was a lethal opponent. The opposition’s trainer was always in for a busy match if George was playing. His normal route past an opponent was to go through, rather than around. When he was in the green of Argyle such methods were perfectly acceptable.

   His welcome at the Dell must have been an interesting one. His fierce approach on the field had seen Kirby accumulate a number of enemies, right across the Second Division. It seemed that almost every time he took the field he faced a vendetta. Indeed, some of the leading members of the ‘get George Kirby club’ earned their living at the Hampshire club he was now joining. Tommy Traynor, Cliff Huxford and Terry Paine all liked to leave their foot in, but they all felt that Kirby had been taking robustness to a different level.

    Southampton had been promoted from the Third Division the season after Argyle. During the period between George joining Argyle, and then leaving for Southampton, he had faced Saints on four occasions. Few of the games passed without incident. In the first, on 22 October 1960, a 3-1 home defeat for Argyle. George was accused of roughing up goalkeeper Ron Reynolds. Kirby also gave their centre half John Page a torrid time. The match report shows that referee ET Jennings (Norton Stourbridge) repeatedly warned him, yet did not caution him. On 11 March 1961, in a 1-1 draw at the Dell, Kirby’s forearm left the aforementioned John Page unconscious on the ground. Referee Jim Finney gave Kirby a ticking-off, but nothing more.

   In August 1961 Argyle opened their season at the Dell, winning 2-1. The home team were hampered by the loss of goalkeeper Ron Reynolds for the entire second half, with a suspected fractured ankle. Although not directly responsible for the injury, Kirby was showing the goalkeeper close attention when he fell awkwardly trying to clutch a cross. It was Kirby who scored the winner. A back strain meant John Page had been doubtful for the game, perhaps the first injury the player had not wanted to heal? As it happens, on the morning of the game Southampton secured the services of £25,000 Tony Knapp from Leicester, so Page would not have played anyway. Although by the end of that season Knapp was deemed good enough to be selected in the original 40 for the 1962 England World Cup squad, reputation meant little to Kirby. He still ensured that Knapp endured a difficult debut.

In the return match, on Saturday 16 December 1961, matters came to a head. Southampton appeared to arrive in Plymouth gunning for Kirby. During the first half, there were several clashes before the visitors’ left back Traynor struck the Argyle man off the ball, an incident that went unseen by referee Kingston. It was spotted by many in the crowd – and Argyle chairman Ron Blindell.

It emerged in the following Monday’s Western Evening Herald that an incensed Blindell had visited the referee’s room at half time, demanding to know “why the linesman had taken no action when Kirby was assaulted, right on front of him”. The referee reported the incident to the FA, though Blindell protested his innocence. Despite an exhaustive search of the local newspaper archive, I could find no trace of any punishment being awarded against the Argyle chairman. On the day, George Kirby had the last laugh. He was fouled by two defenders, leading to Carter putting the resultant penalty away to make it 3-0. To add salt to the wound Kirby himself netted the fourth.

Request an edit