Markus Jude Bellingham (born 7 March 1976) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and a retired

Police Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the Briti ...

of the

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of ...

, as a hostage negotiator. In football, he played as a striker and at his prime he played in the

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

and

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and e ...

, both at level 7 of the pyramid.

Early life

Bellingham is a native of

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. Bellingham joined Southend-based side Catholic United in the mid-1980s as a youth player, eventually starting his senior career at the club. Bellingham attended the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university in Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, England, located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire. Originally founded in 1827 as the Wolverham ...

Club career

Bellingham was regarded as a prolific non-league striker, scoring over 700 goals. In 2001, he almost retired from football after suffering his second torn cruciate ligament. By the late 2010s, he retired from non-league football and started playing in veterans' tournaments. He last played as a striker for Southam United.

Personal life

He is the father of footballers Jude and

Jobe Bellingham Jobe Samuel Patrick Bellingham (born 23 September 2005) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder or forward (association football), forward for German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Bellingham b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellingham, Mark 1976 births English men's footballers Living people Men's association football forwards Newport County A.F.C. players Bromsgrove Sporting F.C. players Footballers from Essex West Midlands Police officers Catholic United F.C. players East Thurrock United F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Halesowen Town F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Sutton Coldfield Town F.C. players Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. players Stourbridge F.C. players Leamington F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Daventry Town F.C. players Bedworth United F.C. players Wolverhampton Casuals F.C. players Hinckley A.F.C. players Cradley Town F.C. players Paget Rangers F.C. players Southam United F.C. players