Ben Burgess

Infobox Football biography
playername = Ben Burgess


fullname = Benjamin Kieron Burgess
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|11|9
cityofbirth = Buxton
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=3
nickname = Big Ben
position = Striker
currentclub = Blackpool
clubnumber = 27
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1998–2002
2000–2001
2001-2002
2002-2003
2003
2003-2006
2006-
clubs = Blackburn Rovers
→ Northern Spirit (loan)
→ Brentford (loan)
Stockport
→ Oldham (loan)
Hull City
Blackpool
caps(goals) = 002 0(0)
027 (16)
043 (17)
019 0(4)
007 0(0)
070 (24)
072 0(14)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland Under-21
nationalcaps(goals) = 002 0(0)
pcupdate = 15:17, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 6 July, 2007

Benjamin Kieron Burgess (born 9 November 1981 in Buxton, Derbyshire) is an English-born Irish footballer, who currently plays for Blackpool. He has been capped twice by the Republic of Ireland at Under-21 level.

Club career

Burgess began his football career at Blackburn Rovers in 1998, where he stayed until 2002, but made just two league appearances for the club. On 3 October, 2000 he went on loan to North Sydney based Northern Spirit in Australia. He scored 16 goals in 27 appearances for the club. In the 2001-02 season he went on loan to Brentford, before moving to Stockport County on 16 July, 2002. He had a two month loan spell at Oldham Athletic from January to March 2003, before signing for Hull City on 27 March.

He became the first Hull City player to score a hat-trick at the KC Stadium on 26 April 2003, in a match against Kidderminster Harriers. He was City's top scorer in their 2003-04 promotion campaign, scoring 18 goals and forming a partnership with Danny Allsopp. However, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury late in the season in a match against Huddersfield Town and did not appear in Hull's 2004-05 League One campaign until promotion had already been secured, showing sportsmanship by declining to accept any promotion award.

He soon returned to scoring despite playing two levels higher in the Championship, scoring one of two goals in the Tigers' first win of the 2005-06 season at home against Brighton & Hove Albion. However, further injury problems caused him to also miss the majority of that season and he made only two appearances.

Burgess joined Blackpool on 31 August 2006, for an initial fee of £25,000, with a further £75,000 paid after he had played 30 games. On 31 October 2006, he scored his first goals for Blackpool when he bagged a brace in a 4-4 draw with Accrington Stanley in the League Trophy.cite web
title = Football League Trophy Accrington Stanley 4 Blackpool 4
publisher = Soccerbase
date = 2006-08-31
url = http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=499931
accessdate = 2008-05-31] On 27 May, 2007, Burgess was an unused substitute in Blackpool's League One play-off final victory over Yeovil Town at Wembley.cite news
title=Yeovil 0-2 Blackpool
publisher=BBC Sport
date= 2007-05-27
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_2/6686991.stm
accessdate= 2007-05-27 ] On 14 August 2007, Burgess, on as a second-half substitute, scored the only goal of the game as Blackpool beat Huddersfield Town in the first round of the League Cup.cite news
title=Blackpool 1-0 Huddersfield
publisher=BBC Sport
date= 2007-05-27
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/league_cup/6941806.stm
accessdate= 2007-08-14] On 7 May, 2008 Blackpool activated an option to extend his contract with the club by one year. cite news
title = Retained List Latest
publisher = Blackpool F.C.
date = 2008-05-07
url = http://www.blackpoolfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~1307664,00.html
accessdate = 2008-05-07 ]

International career

Burgess played twice for the Rep of Ireland Under-21 team.

Personal life

Away from football Burgess is currently studying to become a journalist. After the end of the 2007-08 season he spent time at the Blackpool Gazette as a trainee journalist on work experience,cite news
last = Canavan
first = Steve
title= Blackpool's Burgess backs foreign players
publisher= Blackpool Gazette
date=2008-05-31
url=http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sports-news/Blackpool39s-Burgess-backs-foreign-players.4139203.jp
accessdate=2008-05-31] during which time he wrote an article about the England national team.cite news
last = Burgess
first = Ben
title= Burgess - Fabio must oust 'big name' players
publisher= Blackpool Gazette
date=2008-05-31
url=http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sports-news/Burgess--Fabio-must-oust.4139377.jp
accessdate=2008-05-31]

Honours

Blackpool
*League One play-off final winner: 2006-07

Notes

External links

* [http://www.blackpoolfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Squad/Profiles/0,,10432~17088,00.html Ben Burgess profile] at blackpoolfc.co.uk
*soccerbase|20396|Ben Burgess
* [http://www.playerhistory.com/Default.aspx?page=player_details&playerID=519 Profile at PlayerHistory.com]