PETER KIPPAX 

Date and Place of Birth 17th July 1922 - Burnley died 21st September 1987   Transfers to and from Burnley amateur from - 1940 to Liverpool - January 1949   First and Last Burnley Games Stoke City (a) - 5th January 1946   Huddersfield Town (h) - 1st May 1948   Other Clubs ---------------------------------------- Liverpool, Preston North End

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

When Burnley played in the 1947 FA Cup Final against Charlton our team read: Strong, Woodruff, Mather, Attwell, Brown, Bray, Chew, Morris, Harrison, Potts, F.P. Kippax.

Not just Kippax on the left wing, but F. P. Kippax as was deemed necessary then for amateur sportsmen. Referees were always referred to as Mr followed by their initials but it was rare for an amateur player to play at such a high level.

Kippax (or Frederick Peter Kippax to give him his full name) had a short career in league football but was of the age that meant he lost a large portion of it to the war. Born in July 1922 he was 17 when we declared war on Germany and by the time league football resumed in 1946 he had reached his 24^th birthday.

During the war he was a guest player for a number of clubs both north and south of the border but it was his home town club of Burnley he played for during that first post- war season. Such were his circumstances that he neither needed nor wanted to become a professional and throughout his career was an amateur playing for enjoyment.

He was an excellent left winger and a first choice in Cliff Britton's team, but there were occasions when his business commitments meant he was unavailable for games. Even so he played over half the league games that season and such was his form that he was twice selected for the Football League and also won an England call up.

That was against France in May 1947 but he wasn't able to play because of illness. He was taken ill on the eve of the FA Cup Final but played and had a very disappointing game. That was no surprise; Kippax collapsed two days after the final and didn't play again all season.

He'd been one of the star players in the promotion side but once back in the top flight Kippax was never quite able to reach the level he'd done during that promotion campaign. He lost his place to Jack Hays who'd replaced him at the end of the previous season.

He played just six times in the First Division during that 1947/48 season and wasn't in the team at all in the first half of the following season. He played some games for Yorkshire Amateurs before his contract was cancelled in January 1949 and he signed for Liverpool.

It wasn't the end of his Turf Moor successes but his league football career was coming to an end. He played just once for Liverpool before moving to Preston where he didn't play at all in the first team. He ended his footballing days with Nelson.

But back to Turf Moor, and Kippax was a good all round sportsman who also donned the whites for Burnley Cricket Club during the 1940s and 1950s. He was an attacking batsman who was also a top fielder, rated the best fielder in the Lancashire League. It was a good time for BCC with Cec Pepper as professional with Kippax first choice in the batting line up for a number of years.

His football career would have taken him to the top with England but for his illness but he did win three amateur caps for Great Britain in the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

Kippax's business interests allowed him to retire early and he moved to St. Annes although he was a regular at Turf Moor alongside other former Clarets in the Bob Lord Stand. Sadly he passed away at the age of 65 in 1987.