Gordon Burness

Gordon Burness

Personal information
Full name	John Gordon Burness
Date of birth	October 2, 1906
Place of birth	Montrose, Angus, Scotland
Date of death	July 20, 1989(1989-07-20) (aged 82)
Place of death	Needham, Massachusetts, United States
Position(s)	Wing Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Forfar Athletic
	Brechin City
	Toronto Scottish
1925–1927	Brooklyn Wanderers	24	(5)
1927–1929	Boston Wonder Workers	98	(11)
1929	New Bedford Whalers	10	(1)
1930	Pawtucket Rangers	20	(1)
Fall 1930	Fall River Marksmen	6	(2)
Spring 1931	→ New York Yankees	12	(3)
Fall 1931	Boston Bears	10	(2)
International career
1925	Canada	1	(1)
1926	United States	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Gordon Burness (October 2, 1906 – June 20, 1989) was a Scottish-Canadian-American soccer wing forward who earned a cap with both the Canadian and U.S. national teams. He began his career in Scotland before moving to Canada and then the United States, where he spent six seasons in the American Soccer League.

Club career

Burness began playing with Forfar Athletic in the Scottish Football League. At some point, he transferred to Brechin City. He then left Scotland for Canada where he played for Toronto Scottish. In 1925, he signed with the Brooklyn Wanderers of the American Soccer League. After two season, he transferred to the Boston Wonder Workers, winning the 1927-1928 league title with them. Burness began the 1929-1930 season with Boston, but moved to the New Bedford Whalers after only four games. He played ten with the Whalers, then transferred to the Pawtucket Rangers for one game in the 1929-1930 season. He then played nineteen games of the 1930 fall season in Pawtucket, before transferring to the Fall River Marksmen for the final six league games. The Marksmen merged with the New York Soccer Club in 1931 to form the New York Yankees. Burness remained with the renamed team for the 1931 spring season. However, the team had already begun games in the National Challenge Cup under the name Marksmen, so Burness and his teammates won the National Cup as the Fall River Marksmen. That cup went to three games and Burness scored one of the two Fall River goals in the 2-0 final game victory. He then finished his professional career with the Boston Bears in the 1931 fall season.

National team

Burness earned his first cap, with Canada, in a 6-1 loss to the United States on November 8, 1925. He scored the lone Canadian goal in the loss. A year later, he became one of a handful of players to earn a cap with two countries when he played for the U.S. in a 6-2 win over Canada on November 6, 1926.

Post soccer career

Burness later worked as a traffic controller of ocean shipping for Exxon Oil Company.

External links

• National Soccer Hall of Fame eligibility bio