Robert Joseph Burns (born 7 October 1999) is a Northern Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Early and personal life

Burns was born in Antrim. He was the Head Boy at

St. Malachy's College St Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college in Ulster. The college's alumni and students are known as Malachians. History The college, founded by Bishop William Crolly, opened on the feast of Sain ...

, and had intended to study mathematics at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

before becoming a professional footballer.

Club career

Glenavon

Burns played youth football for

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of t ...

and

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

before joining

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

in June 2015. Burns made his senior debut for Glenavon in the 2015–16 season final game against Linfield at 16 years old. The following season he went on loan with Knockbreda in January 2016. The club were battling relegation but Burns played attacking midfield and scored 8 goals in the final 8 league games to steer the club away from relegation on the final day of the season. Burns then returned to Glenavon for the 2017–18 season. At Glenavon he scored 8 goals in 41 appearances, was nominated for the NI Football Writers' Association Young Player of the Year Award, and won Glenavon's Young Player of the Year and Fans' Player of the Year awards. Whilst at Glenavon he received offers from English clubs

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

but decided to stay at home and complete his A Level qualifications in school first.

Heart of Midlothian

Burns signed a three-year contract with Scottish club Heart of Midlothian in May 2018, for an undisclosed fee, with effect from June 2018. He described his professional football career as a 'dream come true', and stated he wanted to break into the Northern Ireland senior squad. After being involved in pre-season fixtures, he made his competitive debut for the club on 18 July 2018, in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

game against

Cove Rangers Cove Rangers Football Club is a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Championship. They are based in the Cove Bay area of Aberdeen and play their football at Balmoral Stadium, having left their former home at Allan ...

, where he played the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 victory. In August 2018, Hearts loaned Burns to

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

. His loan ended in January 2019. Burns then returned to Hearts in January 2019. He played a number of games before the end of the season, including an Edinburgh derby and a Scottish Cup semi-final. Burns scored his first goal for Hearts in a 2–1 defeat against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He was then listed as an unused substitute for the

2019 Scottish Cup Final The 2019 Scottish Cup Final was the 134th final of the Scottish Cup and the final of the 2018–19 Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The match took place at Hampden Park on 25 May 2019 and was contested ...

, which Hearts lost 2–1 to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Loan to Newcastle Jets

In September 2019 he moved on loan to Australian side

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

. He said he hoped the move would earn him his first senior international cap. Due to the shutdown of the league due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Burns left Australia in April 2020.

Barrow

On 4 August 2020, Burns joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Barrow. On 3 October 2020 he moved on loan to

. On 2 November he suffered a double leg break during a match. On 28 July 2021, Burns had his contract terminated by mutual consent.

Glentoran

On 31 July 2021, three days after his departure from Barrow, Burns returned to

on a permanent contract. Burns was seriously injured during a match on 28 October 2023 after colliding with pitch side advertising hoardings, eventually being stretchered off.

International career

He has been capped by Northern Ireland at under-19 and under-21 levels, and trained with the senior team.

Playing style

Burns was primarily a central

, but also played as a left defender and as an attacker.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Bobby 1999 births Living people Association footballers from County Antrim Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Knockbreda F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Newcastle Jets FC players Barrow A.F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland men's youth international footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland British expatriates in Australia A-League Men players Sportspeople from Antrim, County Antrim Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland