Next weekend Jamie Vardy has the opportunity to surpass the mark set by Ruud van Nistelrooy 11 years ago and become the player with the most consecutive games with a goal to his name.

Poetically, the Leicester City striker can manage that feat of scoring in an 11th game in succession against Van Nistelrooy former club Man United.

But even if the England international does achieve it, he will still not hold the overall record. 

While a goal next Saturday would see him take the Premier League record, a former Ireland international set the English football record with 12 consecutive games with a goal for Sheffield United in the pre-World War II era.

But who was Jimmy Dunne? 

His record

Born in Ringsend, Dublin back in 1905, the former forward set his all-time mark back in the 1931-32 season when he found the net in 12 consecutive games (and a total of 18 goals).

It was hardly an isolated hot streak for a man who holds the record goal mark in a season for an Irishman with 41 the previous season. Indeed from the 1929-30 campaign all the way to 1932-33, he scored at least 25 goals per season in the league, with further hauls acquired in the FA Cup.

Internationally he also scored 13 goals in 15 caps for the Irish Free State team between 1930 and 1939.

But looking into that strike rate in detail, The Irish Independent and Off The Ball's Daniel McDonnell says his record could have been more remarkable at international level if circumstances has fallen his way.

"I remember Niall Quinn briefly became the top scorer for Ireland with 21 goals. Jimmy Dunne scored 13 times in 15 games for the FAI national team. But obviously in the '30s, there was the FAI national team and the IFA national team and he played for both the Dublin and the Belfast association. But because he was such a big name in England, he won his first cap for Ireland, as we know it now, in 1930 and his second one not till 1936. So really if he had been playing regularly for Ireland during that point, he could have set a record that we would have been talking about him into the early first third of Robbie Keane's international career."   

Jimmy Dunne at Arsenal in 1933 (Barratts / EMPICS Sport)

Irish Civil War

Dunne, who also played for Arsenal, Shamrock Rovers and Southampton was interred during the Irish Civil War by the Free State, also spending a time on hunger strike.

This was before his football career had taken off and was due to alleged IRA membership.

"He was deemed to be a member of the IRA, although looking into it, it might have been his brother more so than Jimmy himself. It was more so his brother who was involved. He was from a Gaelic football family. The story goes that he took a more serious interest in football playing 5-a-side games when he was in prison in Curragh and also in Portlaoise. Apparently spent time on hunger strike even. So upon his release, he went to Shamrock Rovers, didn't necessarily like things up at Shamrock Rovers, played in the B team there, [then] went to New Brighton in the English Fourth Division, Sheffield United for £800 [where] he doesn't do much for three years and then the penny drops and he just explodes," Dan explained. 

The non-Nazi salute

One of the most interesting episodes from his life was the time when the Irish Free State travelled to take on Nazi Germany in 1939 with Dunne as captain.

The Irish team had been instructed to give a Nazi salute ahead of the match in Bremen as the English had done in 1938, but Dunne, who was a committed socialist refused, encouraging team-mates to follow his lead.

"Turns out that Jimmy Dunne is aware enough of the scenario here and that this isn't necessarily a doctrine you want to be respecting," said Dan. 

"The version of events that has now been told, is that Dunne steadfastly refused to do the salute and that other Irish players stuck with him. But the actual footage and pictures that exist, it's a couple of seconds, a couple of shots and it's not entirely clear but certainly whether they fully went through with it or not is a matter of dispute. But doesn't seem to be disputed is that he has serious reservations about it. He made it be known that he wasn't happy with it. Apparently he whispered and shouted down the line about 'remember 1916, don't do this during it.'"  

Dunne passed away in 1949 at the age of 44. 

Off The Ball and The Irish Independent's Dan McDonnell discussed Jimmy Dunne on tonight's Football Show.