Simeon Jackson

Personal information
Full name	Simeon Alexander Jackson
Date of birth	28 March 1987 (1987-03-28) (age 22)
Place of birth	Kingston, Jamaica
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Gillingham
Number	10
Youth career
	Sunoco FC
	ASPIRE Academy
	Dulwich Hamlet
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2008	Rushden & Diamonds	88	(40)
2008–	Gillingham	81	(31)
National team‡
2006–2008	Canada U20	7	(0)
2009–	Canada	8	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 December 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 December 2009

Simeon Alexander Jackson (born 28 March 1987) is a Jamaican-born Canadian footballer who plays for Gillingham.

He has previously played for Dulwich Hamlet and Rushden & Diamonds. Jackson was born in Jamaica but grew up in, and plays internationally for, Canada.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early years

Jackson was born in Kingston, Jamaica but grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. He played for his local team in Canada, Sunoco FC.^[1] He was invited to have trials with Gillingham, but was rejected by the club.^[1] At the age of 15, he moved to England and lived with his grandmother in Croydon.^[1]

[edit] Rushden & Diamonds

He joined Rushden & Diamonds in 2004 and was the club's top scorer in the 2006–07 season, scoring 20 goals. The next season he was top scorer for the Diamonds in the league, scoring 16 goals, despite leaving for Gillingham in January. He was joint 8th top scorer in the league that season.^[2] In 2005, he had trials with Manchester United and Manchester City.^[1][3] When he left the Diamonds he had established himself as the club's 8th highest goalscorer, scoring 43 goals in just over 100 games in all competitions.

[edit] Gillingham

In January 2008, he signed with Gillingham, a club he had a trial with as a youth player,^[4] for a transfer fee of £150,000 on a three-and-a-half-year contract.^[5] He made his debut against Cheltenham Town on 2 February 2008.

On 4 January 2009, Jackson scored an equalising goal for Gillingham in their 2–1 FA Cup Third Round defeat by Aston Villa. His performance led to rumours of a £1,000,000 move to Villa,^[6] and helped him win the Football League Two Player of the Month award.^[7] He scored both goals as Gillingham beat Rochdale in the 2008–09 play-off semi final,^[8] and the 90th minute winner in the 1–0 win against Shrewsbury Town in the final, as Gillingham returned to League One one year after relegation.^[9]

[edit] International career

Jackson qualified for Canadian citizenship by virtue of his years of residence there as a child, and has seven caps for the Canadian Men's Youth (U-20) team. His first game was a friendly against Brazil in May 2006, and he played in all three of Canada's games at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup^[10], his last games at that level. On 14 November 2008, he received his first call up for the Canadian senior squad for a match against his country of birth, Jamaica.

On 30 May 2009, Jackson started his first game for Canada against Cyprus, scoring the winning goal in the 53rd minute of a 1–0 victory.^[11] By December 2009, he earned a total of 8 caps, scoring 1 goal.

On 18 December 2009, Jackson was named the 2009 Canadian Player of the Year.

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	30 May 2009	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Cyprus	1-0	1-0	Friendly match

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

• Football League Two Playoff Winners 2009

[edit] Individual

2009: Canadian International Player of the Year^[12]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• National team profile at Canadian Soccer Association official site
• Gillingham profile
• Rushden & Diamonds profile
• Simeon Jackson career stats at Soccerbase
• Career stats - National Football Teams

v • d • e Canada squad – 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Sutton • 2 Cann • 3 Klukowski • 4 Hainault • 5 McKenna • 6 de Guzman • 7 Stalteri • 8 de Jong • 9 Gerba • 10 Johnson • 11 Hastings • 12 Nakajima • 13 Hutchinson • 14 Jakovic • 15 Simpson • 16 Jackson • 17 Peters • 18 Wagenaar • 19 Harmse • 20 Bernier • 21 Pozniak • 22 Stamatopoulos • 23 Gbeke • Coach: Hart