It’s not just Craig Kirkby’s speed, agility and ball control that makes him stand out on a football pitch – he’s usually also the only player with a thick thatch of grey hair.
The 50-year-old, from Rochdale, has amassed a huge social media following after sharing videos of himself going up against much younger players, running rings around them – and some Premier League ex-professionals – with his nimble footwork.
Mr Kirkby plays football twice a week and makes sure to practice kicking a football around for between 10 to 30 minutes every day – sometimes in a park where, he admits, the youngsters give him funny looks.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I still go to the park and kick the ball against a wall. You have a few people looking at you like you’re a bit odd because I’m a grey-haired old man, but I don’t care. I just go there, kick my ball and go home.
‘You’re told to behave a particular way when you’re at a certain age. Really, you should stay as active as long as you can.’
Mr Kirkby now has more than 25,000 followers under the username ‘footballat50’, with videos his videos attracting attention from brands like Puma, who sent him 10 pairs of boots.
In a recent game against former Premier League players including Stephen Ireland, he approached ex-Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse to ask for a picture.
‘He [Cisse] said “I should be asking you”,’ Mr Kirkby added. ‘He said, “your left foot is a wand”. And then he followed me on Instagram and messaged me to say I was a good footballer.’
Mr Kirby plays football against people half his age and his video clips have gone viral online
The Senegalese international isn’t the only person Kirkby has impressed. His turns for Wardle FC, in the Lancashire Amateur Premier Division, led to him being selected for England’s 50-to-55-year-old veterans team, who will be playing in Belgrade this summer.
While he is excited to pull on the Three Lions’ jersey, Mr Kirkby admits that he gets the biggest thrill from the messages he receives from older men who have been inspired by him to exercise and pick up a football again.
And it’s not only online that he is making an impact with older members of the community thanks to his day job working as a personal trainer (PT).
Mr Kirkby trains all ages, shapes and sizes of people – ranging from 80-year-olds who had been unable to walk ’50 metres without being in pain’ to women with crumbling kneecaps who have been able to regain strength.
His training plan for each client is simple: he works around them.
On his training plan for the man aged 80, he said: ‘I started by telling him to sit down and stand up on a bench, doing a few weights. And this is no word of a lie, within a year, I had him deadlifting, which he wanted to do, and he went back to playing golf.
‘He only stopped working with me because he got a job running a food bank. This guy who walked through the door thinking he was on his way out, and suddenly turned his life around.’
Mr Kirkby credits his ability to maintain his fitness to a lifetime of staying active – choosing physically demanding jobs over sedentary office work – and now encourages clients to consider the long-term wellbeing benefits of their work, not just the pay.
However, for many people, stepping away from a role with a big salary – even one if it involves long hours and little movement – is not a realistic option.
To those people, he says that all they need to do is carve out ten minutes to move their bodies – and it won’t be long until their passion takes over.
He said: ‘A good way to start is exercising for 10 minutes in the morning before you have a shower.
‘Just pick four exercises, squats, squat to toes, press ups on your knees just do 10 minutes and get it to become a habit and then eventually that becomes 20 minutes when you start to enjoy it and see the benefits.’
And to people who claim they ‘don’t have time’ for exercising, Mr Kirkby’s having none of it.
He said: ‘But I would always say you have got time. I’ve always done 60 to 80 hours work a week and I’d come in at 10pm or 11pm when the kids were in bed and I’d go in my garage and I’d train for an hour.
At 50 years old, he is the picture of fitness and has shot to social media fame in recent times
‘You’ve always got time – and the benefits are worth it.’
He also built a simple rule that has stuck with him for life.
‘I remember thinking to myself one night, “OK, I’ll go for a run tonight” – but then I got home and I couldn’t be bothered,’ he says.
‘And I thought, “no, I don’t want to be that person”. So I decided that any time I said to myself, I can’t be bothered, I’ll put my shoes on and I’ll do it. That just stuck with me.’
Today, Mr Kirkby maintains his fitness through sessions of muscular endurance – such as push-ups, sit-ups and planks – six times a week, and two full body workouts per week.
‘I like being fit,’ he says. ‘The mirror doesn’t mean anything to me, and I try and say that to my clients.
‘The mirror will look nice if you train properly, but it’s about attitude and what you’re trying to achieve.’
Mr Kirkby’s achievements are made all the more impressive considering that when he was a teen he almost lost his leg in a workplace accident and doctors warned he would suffer complications from the injury by his 30s.
He left school aged just 16 to join the British Army Air Corps as a member of the ground crew and would regularly kick a ball around with his pals away from the daily activities of delivering firepower.
He always knew he wanted to be in the army – even when professional football clubs like Blackburn Rovers were interested in signing him up as a youngster.
His father had served before him, and assured him that he would still get plenty of opportunities to enjoy a kickabout with his fellow soldiers.
And, for a while, that was true.
But one evening in 1994, while working at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, the then 17-year-old’s leg was trapped under a multi-lift – a device used to move heavy aircraft – and crushed.
In an instant, his hip was twisted and his ankle broken in three places. His hopes of a future in football – and even his ability to continue in the army – flashed before his eyes.
‘It was a bad one,’ he recalled. ‘I still have to have my hip turned every six months – I see an osteopath and get it manipulated.
Craig Kirkby followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the army when he was 16 years old
‘I was told it would cause me a lot of issues but, to be honest, I’ve got no injury problems, touch wood. I feel very much like I can do anything I want.’
Immediately after the accident, Mr Kirkby underwent a six-month rehabilitation programme involving hydrotherapy – exercising in water to reduce pressure on the joints – alongside gradually reintroducing weight-bearing movement.
The process helped him regain strength, mobility and confidence, allowing him to return to football with his army teammates at 18, where he remained for a further seven years before moving back home.
Still a keen footballer, he impressed during trials at Cambridge United, who were then in the third tier, and Kettering Town. Both clubs showed interest but as he was 25 they opted for younger, cheaper players.
With the prospect of a professional career in football behind him, Mr Kirkby went on to work as a crane operator and labourer before becoming a PT.
There is a deeper poignance to all of his efforts, too. Mr Kirkby’s son died two years ago and he and his wife struggled deeply with such a tragic loss.
After the first year, he had planned to give up football at the end of the season. But his wife encouraged him to film his final matches and share them online – using social media platforms he had originally joined to support his influencer son.
‘I thought it would just be me and my family watching the videos,’ he says. ‘But one of them went to 1.5million views or something, and from there it just took off.
‘The last couple of years have been really hard, and I wouldn’t have done any of this if my son was still alive, because my wife would never have suggested it.
‘It’s bittersweet because it’s hard to accept that good things are happening, but I know he’d want me to carry on.’
Mr Kirkby’s story is being championed by Age UK, which – through their Act Now, Age Better campaign – is encouraging other Britons over 50 to exercise now to feel the benefits later in life.
The initiative is being supported by double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes, as well as Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell and broadcaster Gabby Logan.
Logan said: ‘I exercise because I love it, it gives me a great feeling when I do it, I like being able to play lots of different sports and move well, but I’m also doing it to futureproof myself so that, when I’m in my 70s and 80s, I’m still as active as I can be.
‘My motivation is to be able to play tennis with the grandchildren I haven’t got yet. So, I am completely aligned to this campaign.’
