Alfred Burden: Once a Gunner, now a potter

Alfred Burden is a part of the English quartet participating in the CCI Open invitational tournament. Alfie, as he is known in the snooker circles, was a promising football player.

He said, “I was at Arsenal in my youth. I was on the same team as Frank Lampard, Lee Bowyer and Stephen Hughes.” Unfortunately, his football career could not take off due to an injury.

“It was bad tackle. I broke my foot in four places. And that was that,” he said.

The cueist added that he is still in touch with all his former teammates, who went on and made it big in football. “I still speak to them and run into them sometimes. We even go out and have a drink from time to time,” said the potter.

Burden is the practice partner of fellow Englishman and snooker legend Jimmy White, who is also participating in CCI’s tournament.

“We both are from London. We had a common friend who set it up for us when I was 16-years-old. We have been practicing together and have become good friends since then,” Burden explained.

Burden is on his second trip to India. “I was in India for the amateur tournament, which I won. Now in this tournament, I have not yet lost one, touchwood. I hope my run continues,” said Burden. However, he went on to lose to Kamal Chawla in the quarterfinals.

The amateur tournament that Burden mentioned was the 2009 IBSF World Championship at Hyderabad, where he beat Brazil’s Igor Figuredo 10-8 in the final. With the victory, he was able to regain a place in the professional circuit for 2010/11.