Michael Burke was born on 28 June 1904 in Blythswood, in what was then
Renfrewshire. He was the eldest of nine children of an Irish father and a Scottish mother, and began his working life as a
riveter in the shipyards in
Glasgow. In December, he took part in a trial for the Intermediate League representative eleven, and, writing in the
Sunday Post a month later, "The Traveller" mentioned Burke as one who might have a future in the senior ranks. He helped Ashfield reach the final of the
Intermediate Cup, "all but had the first goal with a shot that got the crossbar", and made the pass for
Peter Cunningham to score what proved the only goal of the match. Both Burke and Cunningham joined
Clyde early in the
1929–30 Division One season. Burke scored once from 14 league matches, before moving on to
Aberdeen. Having made no first-team appearances, and signed for Division Two club
Dunfermline Athletic after a trial. Despite the second half of his 1931–32 season being disrupted by injury and illness, he was one of six players offered terms for a second season, but did not accept. Instead, he signed for Irish club
Dundalk, and made his debut in October 1932 in the
Leinster Cup, playing at
outside left. He continued in the side for the rest of
the season as Dundalk became the first team from outside
Dublin to win the
League of Ireland title. He stayed with Dundalk for a second season, at the end of which he had 31 goals from 74 matches played, 13 from 29 in the league. and on his recommendation, Burke joined the club on trial a few weeks later. By the end of October, Lincoln had decided to keep him. He made his debut in the
FA Cup against
Shildon in November and his first appearance in the English
Football League on 2 February 1935, after which he played in 10 of the remaining 16 matches as Lincoln finished in fourth place. played only once more for the first team after the turn of the year and was one of eleven players released at the end of the campaign. Burke moved on to another Third Division North club,
Southport. He scored on debut in the opening match of the 1936–37 season in a 1–1 draw with
Hartlepools United, and continued in the team until a groin muscle pulled during his ninth appearance kept him out for two months. He played a further 11 matches, but never regained a regular place in the side, and scored the second of his two goals for Southport in his last match, a defeat at
Darlington on 3 April 1937. He finished his Football League career with a season at
Rochdale, where he was mainly a reserve, making only nine appearances for the first team. and played regularly for much of the season. The following August, he went back to England for a month's trial with Midland League club
Burton Town, but the outbreak of war put an end to his career. Burke returned to the shipyards as an electrician, and later worked in the docks. He continued to live in Glasgow, where he died of
pneumonia in the
Broomhill area on 16 October 1984 at the age of 80. ==Honours==