Joseph Birds was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Despite not being particularly tall for his position, he was described as extremely agile and a good shot-stopper. He started his career in non-league football

Non-league football

Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

 with Macclesfield Town

Macclesfield Town F.C.

Macclesfield Town Football Club is an English football team. The club was formed in 1874 and is based in the town of Macclesfield in Cheshire. The team play its home games at the 6,355 capacity Moss Rose stadium...

 before moving to Football League Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 side Stockport County

Stockport County F.C.

Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

 in 1910. He played 15 league matches prior to the outbreak of the First World War. During the conflict, Birds played as a wartime guest for Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

. After the war, he made a further 22 league appearances for Stockport before moving to Third Division North

Football League Third Division North

The Third Division North of The Football League was a tier in the English association football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran parallel to Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to one or the other according to geographical position...

 outfit Nelson

Nelson F.C.

Nelson F.C. are an English football club, based in Nelson, Lancashire. They are currently members of the North West Counties Football League Division One, who played their home matches at Victoria Park, Lomeshaye Way. They are full members of the Lancashire County Football Association.-Early years:...

 in the summer of 1922.

Birds made his debut for Nelson on 26 August 1922 in the 2–6 defeat away to Bradford Park Avenue

Bradford Park Avenue A.F.C.

Bradford Association Football Club, previously also known as Bradford and since its reformation in the 1970s now referred to as Bradford Park Avenue, is a football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England...

. The team conceded only 10 goals at home in the league all season as they achieved promotion to the Second Division in 1922–23. In a higher league, Birds found first team opportunities limited, playing four times at the start of the 1923–24 campaign before being replaced by former Portsmouth

Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

 goalkeeper Harry Abbott

Harry Abbott (footballer born 1895)

Henry "Harry" Abbott was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Nelson, Luton Town and Rochdale. He also played for newly formed Wigan Athletic in their inaugural season.-References:...

. Birds left Nelson in the summer of 1924 and subsequently retired from professional football.