Luke William Graham (born 27 April 1986) is a semi-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

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

as a defender. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland and Wales internationally at youth levels.

Club career

Born in

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, Graham started his career with

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in their

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

. He was loaned to

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

from November 2003 to February 2004, making nine appearances and scoring one goal in the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Premier Division. He was offered a professional contract with Northampton in May 2004. Graham joined Southern League Premier Division side

Aylesbury United Aylesbury United Football Club is a football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. They are currently members of Division One Central of the Southern League and play at Chesham United's Meadow ground, having been evicted from their ...

on a one-month loan on 22 December 2004 and he completed this period successfully, making five appearances and scoring one goal. He joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

side

on loan in February 2005 and made 15 appearances, including playing in a 3–2 defeat after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

against

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

in the play-off Final. He signed a new contract with Northampton in August 2005 and joined

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

team

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

on loan for the 2005–06 season, where he made 30 appearances. Graham was released by Northampton on 10 May 2006 and later that month agreed to rejoin Kettering permanently. He finished the 2006–07 season with 51 appearances and two goals, as Kettering reached the Conference North play-off semi-final. Graham was a member of the side that won the Conference North title the following season, in which he made 35 appearances and scored one goal. He agreed a new contract with the club in May 2008. After struggling to make the breakthrough into the first team he was sent to Conference North side

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

on a one-month loan on 21 October 2008, which was extended for the rest of the 2008–09 season in November.

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

signed Graham on 19 May 2009 but after he lost his place in the team was sent to divisional rivals

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a one-month loan on 5 November. The loan was extended for a second month on 9 December 2009 and he made the move permanent on 6 January 2010 after Mansfield agreed to give him a free transfer, signing until the end of the 2009–10 season. He played for York in the play-offs where they eventually lost to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

in the

2010 Conference Premier play-off Final The 2010 Conference Premier play-off Final, known as the 2010 Blue Square Premier play-off Final for sponsorship purposes, was a football match between Oxford United and York City on 16 May 2010 at Wembley Stadium in London. It was the eighth Co ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Although he was offered a new two-year contract at York he moved back to Kettering on a two-year contract on 4 June 2010 with the option of a one-year extension, as it was closer to his home. On 31 January 2011, the day of the transfer deadline, Graham signed on loan for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

for the rest of the 2010–11 season, with a view to a permanent move. He scored the winning goal on his full debut for the club, a 1–0 victory over Gloucester City, that put Luton into the quarter-final of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

. Graham re-signed for Forest Green on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee on 30 July 2011. He made 29 appearances for Forest Green in the 2011–12 season. Graham and Forest Green agreed to part ways midway through Graham's two-year deal and he joined

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

on 20 June 2012. After establishing himself as a vital part of the team, Graham signed a new one-year contract as a player/coach with Hereford on 11 June 2013. Graham turned down a new deal with Hereford to sign for Conference Premier club Alfreton Town on a two-year contract on 2 July 2014. He wanted to combine playing part-time football with a career as a PE teacher, after completing a degree in sports journalism. On 2 October 2018, Graham returned to

as a player-coach. On 25 September 2019, Graham was named joint caretaker manager for the club together with former Kettering player Steven Kinniburgh. The duo was replaced on 25 October 2019.

International career

Despite being born in England, Graham represented the Republic of Ireland under-18 team before playing for the Wales under-19 side.

Career statistics

Honours

Kettering Town *

: 2007–08 Brackley Town *

: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Luke 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Kettering English footballers Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Welsh footballers Wales youth international footballers Association football defenders Northampton Town F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Aylesbury United F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players York City F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players Brackley Town F.C. players Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain Universiade medalists in football Kettering Town F.C. managers Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade English football managers