Instead they walked off the pitch and went back to the dressing room. Villa were not the first team to refuse the salute, in fact 6 years earlier Everton had done the same. Manchester City and Derby had also denied orders previously, but in this climate, one year before Germany would invade Poland and Britain would declare war on them, Aston Villa had stood firm in the face of an international powder keg.
Source: Who defied the Nazis? Aston Villa, that’s who! – 7500 To Holte