Alfie Burden

Career

Burden originally had his eyes set on making a career as a professional footballer, but a badly broken leg curtailed this ambition. He spent a couple of seasons at Arsenal F.C. as a schoolboy apprentice, but was with Swindon Town F.C. at the time of the injury. Burden soon showed he was well above average at snooker and qualified for the World Championship in 1998. He gave Tony Drago a run for his money before losing 8–10.

In the 2006/2007 season, Burden qualified for the China Open. He defeated Shokat Ali, Rod Lawler and former top-16 player David Gray to qualify for the tournament. Unfortunately for Burden, he lost his opening Wild Card game to local player Mei Xiwen, 2–5. He dropped off the main tour after the 2007/08 season.

On 25 November 2009 he won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in Hyderabad, India. He won in the final 10–8 against Brazilian Igor Figueiredo. With this he earned a place on the 2010/2011 professional main tour. He started the 2010/2011 season well, by winning 3 qualifying matches, beating Reanne Evans 5–1, Matthew Selt 5–4 and Marcus Campbell 5–3 before losing narrowly against Andrew Higginson 4–5.

In the 2011/2012 season, Burden reached the final qualifying round in the ranking event tournaments twice (at the World Open and the World Championship). He lost to Marcus Campbell 3–5 and Peter Ebdon 0–10 respectively. Burden finished the season ranked world number 60, inside the top 64 who retained their places for the 2012/2013 season.

Burden had an exceptional 2012/2013 season in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events. In the Second Event he beat Andrew Higginson, James Wattana, Barry Hawkins, Robert Milkins and Ryan Day to reach the semi-finals. There, he was defeated 1–4 by Martin Gould. In the European Tour Event 3 played in Antwerp, Belgium, Burden beat Gareth Allen, Joe Swail and Mark King, before losing 3–4 to Neil Robertson in the last 16. These results, together with three other last 32 defeats, helped Burden to 23rd place on the PTC Order of Merit, just inside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals. In the Finals, Burden beat world number one Judd Trump 4–3, clinching the match with a 116 break to reach the last 16, the joint furthest he has ever been in a ranking event and the first since 2000. Burden lost 2–4 to Xiao Guodong in the last 16. He reached the final round of World Championship Qualifying with wins over Paul Davison and Dave Harold, but lost 5–10 to Dominic Dale to end the season ranked world number 53.

Burden qualified for the first round of the 2013 Wuxi Classic to begin the 2013/2014 season, but lost 5–2 to Ali Carter in the opening round. He saw off three players to reach the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open and then beat Michael Holt 5–2 to match his best ever performance in a ranking event. In the last 16 he lost 5–3 against Mark Davis. At the European Tour event, the Gdynia Open, Burden won four matches but was then defeated 4–3 by Sam Baird in the quarter-finals. He finished 34th on the Order of Merit, nine places outside of qualifying for the Finals. Burden got through to the second round of the China Open courtesy of Tony Drago's withdrawal and then lost 5–3 to Jimmy White.

Burden won just two matches in his first eight events of the 2014/2015 season. He won four matches to advance to the quarter-finals of the Xuzhou Open, but lost 4–2 to Tom Ford. He beat David Grace 5–3 and Sam Baird 5–4 in qualifying for the German Masters. Burden defeated Michael Georgiou 5–3 in the first round, closing the match with a 112 break, but fell short of reaching the first ranking event quarter-final of his career as Ryan Day knocked him out 5–2. He ended the season 67th in the world rankings which would have relegated him from the tour, but his Asian Tour performances earned him a new two-year card.

Four successive wins saw Burden reach the quarter-finals of the minor ranking 2016 Gibraltar Open, where he lost 4–2 to Michael White. 5–3 and 5–1 victories over Ricky Walden and Robin Hull helped him qualify for the German Masters for the second year in a row, but he was whitewashed 5–0 by Zhang Anda. Burden also qualified for the China Open courtesy of a 5–2 success over Robbie Williams. He then beat Joe Perry 5–0, Rhys Clark 5–4 and Rory McLeod 5–1 to play in the first ranking event quarter-final of his career, but lost 5–1 to Stephen Maguire. He held a 9–5 advantage over Ryan Day in the second round of World Championship qualifying, before being defeated 10–9.

Burden edged out Ryan Day 4–3 to qualify for the 2016 European Masters and then beat Yu Delu 4–1 and Ricky Walden 4–3 to play in his second career ranking event quarter-final, where he was thrashed 4–0 by Mark Selby. In January 2017, Burden was found guilty of placing bets totalling £25,000 on snooker matches including those he had played in. He had bet on himself to win and over the 86 bets in 10 years he had lost £2,995. Burden was fined £5,000 and given a six-month ban, which will only come into force if he bets on snooker again before January 2018. His second quarter-final of the season came at the Gibraltar Open and he made breaks of 131 and 109 to force a deciding frame with Nigel Bond, but lost it.

He has the highest number of centuries for any player never to have been ranked in the top 32.