Craig Kirby, 50, turns amateur match clips into viral TikTok following from north of Rochdale

Craig Kirby, a 50-year-old amateur footballer from north of Rochdale, has seen a TikTok highlights video of one of his matches surge in popularity as of the article published on 29 August 2026, with that clip initially creeping over 85,000 views and later racking up more than 340,000 views.

Kirby records footage of his games from the touchline outside a gym above a Methodist church at the end of a row of terraced houses north of Rochdale town centre, and the video pinned to the top of his profile has been viewed 2.9 million times. His ‘Football at 50’ profiles on TikTok and Instagram each hold about 30,000 followers, and many of his early posts feature a match for Whitworth Valley against Old Rivingtonians filmed on a drizzly January afternoon with Lancashire hills and a playground visible in the background. Kirby and his wife Lindsay began filming because she encouraged him to keep playing after the death of their son Sebastian in December 2023; they expected only family and close friends to watch but the reach expanded rapidly.

Kirby had trials at Blackburn Rovers as a teenager but joined the army like his father, and after leaving in his mid-20s he had opportunities at Cambridge United and Kettering that he judged would not support his young family. Now 50, Kirby works as a personal trainer and says he is doing sprint training to try to become quicker this season; he notes his hair is whiter than opponents but his physique remains. Most of his content shows match clips, training sessions, juggling in his gym and keepy-ups against a wall, and he avoids posting confrontational moments from amateur football in favour of tidy touches and passing.

The on-screen text on one clip reads: "Fitness and movement off the ball are 90% of the game." Kirby said of the early viral attention: "I put it on and it went to over one million views." Viewer reaction has leaned positive, with hundreds of commenters praising his technique and making comparisons to higher-profile players.

This season Kirby is playing for Vauxhall Motors in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division, where the club will face Wythenshawe’s squad that includes former professionals. He has formed a friendship with ex-Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse, who praised his left foot, and the club recently registered Usain Bolt, a development Kirby jokes might make his hill sprints useful. Kirby attends events organised by other content creators that draw large crowds and says he is moved when young fans recognise him and ask for his shirt.

Kirby has been called up to England’s over-50s side, has played in several friendlies and said he "hopes to win his first official cap in Thailand later this year." On wearing the national shirt he said: "I do love my country and it's a real privilege to wear the kit and you do feel like you're an England player. Some of the guys have played at such a good level, some ex-pros, some non-league guys."

The decision to continue playing was driven in part by grief after Sebastian, then 20, died by suicide while serving in the Royal Air Force in Norway; the loss followed the death of one of Sebastian's friends months earlier. Kirby said: "He was such a positive kid" and described how football and other positive outlets helped him avoid destructive habits: "I have had people tell me they have lost everything because of grief and they are rethinking what they've done. Because they have made bad habits when the grief happened, they have leaned on them - drugs, alcohol, gambling, they've ended up losing their house and their family, and that is one of the things I wanted to not happen."

Kirby uses his platform to encourage people of all ages to keep playing and to talk about mental health; his advice is practical and succinct: "Things are easy if you just do them," and he added, "The actual friction and the hard work comes from thinking about doing them. If you want to go for a run and you can't be bothered, do it anyway. That's how I've been and how I still am." When first interviewed he was on his way to watch England Over-75s play Germany on the anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final, and he concluded with a wry personal limit on his own career: "As soon as someone goes past me and they're laughing, I will probably stop then!"