Luke Burgess (born 20 February 1987) is an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who last played for the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

. Luke Burgess is the brother of fellow rugby league players Sam, George and Tom Burgess. He previously played in the NRL for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

and the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

Background

Burgess was born on 20 February 1987 in

Liversedge Liversedge is a town and former parish of Birstall, in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Liversedge lies between Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. The Kirklees ward ...

Kirklees Kirklees is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Kirklees Council with the status of a metropolitan borough. The largest town and administrative centre of Kirklees is Huddersfield, and the district also includes ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His late father, Mark Burgess who died of

Motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most commo ...

, was also a

footballer who played for

Nottingham City Mansfield Marksman was a rugby league team based at various times in Mansfield, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Alfreton and ultimately Nottingham. The club changed its name to Nottingham City in 1989, and folded in 1994 a year after exiting the Rugby Foo ...

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

, Dewsbury and

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

; whilst his mother Julie is a teacher, currently employed at

The Scots College , motto_translation = O that we may be worthy of our forefathers , location = Bellevue Hill, Eastern Suburbs, Sydney , country = Australia , type = Independent single-sex primary ...

in Bellevue Hill, Sydney. His younger brothers Sam, Tom and George play professional rugby league with the

, while Sam previously played rugby union for Bath Rugby. He attended

Heckmondwike Grammar School Heckmondwike Grammar School (HGS) is an 11–18 mixed, grammar school and sixth form with academy status in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, England. History The school was built by Thomas Redfearn and Samuel Wood, who lived on Eldon Street, ...

to receive a secondary education before becoming a professional rugby league footballer. He played his junior rugby for Dewsbury Moor, and also played for

Cricket Club.

Professional playing career

Super League

Burgess played for the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headin ...

having previously been on loan to

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. He made his first appearance for Leeds in defeat at Castleford Tigers in March 2008. Burgess' début game was against Castleford Tigers at

Wheldon Road Wheldon Road (known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship purposes) is the home ground of Castleford Tigers Rugby league Club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. It is on Wheldon Road, just outside Castleford town centre. The record att ...

, Leeds lost this game. Burgess scored his first try on his second game against

. At the end of the 2008 season, Burgess became the inaugural winner of the Albert Goldthorpe Rookie of the Year Award, presented by the leading trade newspaper, ''

Rugby Leaguer & League Express ''Rugby Leaguer & League Express'' is a weekly newspaper published every Monday in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the monthly magazine ' Rugby League World' and the annual 'Rugby League ...

''. In 2009, Burgess played in 28 games, however, he only scored one try for the club against

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

, compared to five tries from only five appearances in 2008. He played in the

2009 Super League Grand Final The 2009 Super League Grand Final was the 12th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XIV season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2009, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by defen ...

victory over St. Helens at Old Trafford. On 21 June 2011 it was confirmed that Luke had signed for the

, joining brothers Sam and George at the club who play in the Australian NRL Brother Tom Burgess came later.

National Rugby League

During the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The N ...

Burgess was named to make his NRL début for Souths having been in Australia for less than two weeks. In May 2013, model Yolanda Hodgson who had been a contestant on ''

Australia's Next Top Model ''Australia's Next Top Model'' is an Australian reality television series which premiered on 11 January 2005 and concluded on 22 November 2016, and was based on Tyra Banks' ''America's Next Top Model''. It was broadcast on the Australian subscr ...

'' in 2011, gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Grace Luca. In August 2013, the Burgess brothers became the first set of four brothers to line up in the same Australian side since Ray,

Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

, Rex and Bernard Norman played for Sydney's Annandale club in the 1910 NSWRFL season. In 2015, he joined the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, after being granted an early leave by the

, after an incident at a club after the Rabbitohs' high-altitude training camp in

Arizona, United States Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. It was alleged that a doorman working at an Arizona bar had told Burgess and South Sydney captain John Sutton to leave as they were intoxicated. Sutton allegedly became restless and Burgess got into a fight with the bouncer. Images were released of the pair handcuffed. The bouncer eventually dropped all charges after reaching an agreement with the two players.

Background

Professional playing career

Super League

National Rugby League

References

External links