Bert Kingaby

Bert Kingaby was an outside right, formerly of Fulham. He spent one season at Fulham, in 1906-07, where he played 33 Southern League matches and scored three goals. Nicknamed 'Rabbit' due to his pace, he was notable in English football for bringing legal preceedings against Aston Villa for preventing him playing under the 'retain-and-transfer system' that had been introduced in 1893. He was noted to have worked for a wool manufacturer in London, and thus was only free to play at the weekend or on bank holidays.

Before Fulham
Bert joined Clapton Orient from West Hampstead in August 1903, represented them in their first ever Football League match and scored their first ever League goal. He played for them for around 2 and a half years. Aston Villa bought him from Clapton Orient for £300 in March 1906 (at the time the fee was undisclosed even to the player), but after two months were unimpressed with his ability. Aston Villa, not wanting to lose out on the £300 they had spent on him, offered to sell him back to Clapton Orient at half the price but Clapton, nor any other clubs were interested; the former were unable to afford his services more than lack of interest. Kingaby's wage of £4 per week was stopped, and he was put on Aston Villa's retained players list as of the close season 1906. This prevented him from playing for any other Football League club until their demands were met, this time back at £300. Bert was angry about being denied his freedom to move to another club in the league, but ultimately moved to Fulham due to them playing in the Southern League, which was unaffected by Football League rules.

Fulham (1906-1907)
Still officially an Aston Villa player, Bert was able to play for Fulham in 1906-07 due to their non-league status as a Southern League side. He represented the club 40 times in total that season, scoring three league goals. He became a fan favourite in his short time at Craven Cottage, and his pace and dribbling ability was considered far better than that of the average Southern League winger at the time. Bert helped Fulham to their most successful season at that time in their history, winning the Southern League and Western League titles in 1907. Unfortunately for the club, as they were soon to be elected into the Football League's Second Division, Bert would be ineligible to play for Fulham due to Aston Villa still not releasing him from his contract.

After Fulham
With the contract issues he was still struggling with at Aston Villa, Bert moved to Leyton in the Southern League for three seasons before representing Peterborough City for the same amount of time. It was whilst at Peterborough City, in 1912, that he finally brought the case to court over Aston Villa's retaining of him against his will. With the backing of the Football Union financially, he went to the High Court but lost his case due to errors by his barrister, who made no attempt to prove that it was a restraint of trade. As a result, the Union were almost ruined financially and membership fell drastically.

Bert later played out his career with Croydon Common, retiring from playing professionally in 1916.

Fulham Matches
Editing in progress