Burbanks: William Edwin (Eddie)

1953-1954: &WW2 Guest 1944-1945 (Player Details) (Leeds United War-time Guest Player Details)

Winger

Born: Bentley, nr Doncaster: 01-04-1913

Debut v Notts County (h): 19-08-1953

5’8” 10st 7lb (1953)

He began with Doncaster YMCA, Thorne Town and Denaby United before joining Sunderland for£750 in February 1935. Burbanks quickly adapted to life in the top division. He became a regular in the First Division side that won the Championship in 1935-36. When Jimmy Connor was seriously injured in the FA Cup Fourth Round in 1937, Sunderland turned to him as a replacement. In the F.A. Cup Final, Burbanks scored the third goal of the 3-1 victory, as Sunderland clinched the Cup for the first time. Burbanks was a polished left-winger despite being naturally right footed. After leaving Sunderland, Burbanks joined former team-mate Raich Carter who had been appointed as Hull City's player-manager. While at Roker Park he had played eighty-six League games and scored fifteen goals before the Second World War. During the Second World War he guested for Leeds United as well as several other clubs. The games at Leeds were in the 1944-45 season, when he played a total of twelve games and hit the net twice, with two more games in early in the 1945-46 season. He made his Leeds Wartime debut on 23rd September 1944 at Ayresome Park in a 2-3 defeat by Middlesbrough, playing in seven of the eighteen games in the Football League Northern Section (First Championship). He scored his first Leeds goal in the 9-1 annihilation of Bradford City at Elland Road on Boxing Day 1945 in the first game of the Second Championship tournament in which he went on to play five games and score two goals. His two games in the 1945-46 Football League Northern Section were in the 2-0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers on 6th October 1945 and a 1-2 home defeat by Burnley on 3rd November 1945. In addition to Leeds he guested with: Chesterfield where he played one game in 1939-40, without scoring, and then scored four times in fifteen games for Doncaster Rovers, in the same season and scored in the only game he played for them in 1940-41, the season that he played once, without scoring for Manchester United and scored six times in twenty-two games for Blackpool. He was back with the seasiders in 1941-42, scoring eleven goals in twenty-seven games, while in 1942-43 he scored thirteen times in thirty-sx games as well as playing once for Sunderland without scoring. In 1943-44 he played nine times for Blackpool without finding the net. As a guest player with Blackpool during WW2 he won a League North Medal. He played with Hull team mates Raich Carter at Sunderland and Willie Buchan at Blackpool. As RAF Sergeant he took part in service games in India alongside Buchan.He then played the final two seasons with his own club, Sunderland where he scored once in fourteen games in 1944-45 and six goals in thirty-five games in 1945-46. After the Football League had been resumed after the War he returned to Sunderland and scored a further ten goals in forty-six League appearances before joining Raich Carter at Hull City on 15th June 1948. In all games for the Roker side, in peace-time he had scored twenty-eight goals in one hundred and fifty-two appearances. He was already a veteran when he joined Hull City, but under Raich Carter he helped the Tigers win the Third Division North Championship, in the 1948-49 season, and scored twenty-one goals in one hundred and forty-three League games. When Raich Carter became the Leeds Manager he went back to Hull and signed his old team-mate in July 1953. He became the oldest League player to play for Leeds, but the move did not pay off and he retired in June 1954. His last game for Leeds was as captain against Hull City on 24th April 1954, three weeks after his forty-first birthday. He ran a sweet shop in Hull for twenty-three years until his retirement in November 1979. He died in Hull in July 1983