Biography
Kyle Lavince Lightbourne was a tall striker who spent a fortnight at Hull City on loan in March 2002, as the Tigers reeled from the sacking of Brian Little and tried to reverse a poor run of form. City drew one and lost three of Lightbourne’s four appearances, which perhaps explains why he wasn’t retained any longer when Jan Molby took over in early April 2002.
Lightbourne was born in Hamilton, Bermuda, and had several seasons in the Bermudan Premier League in his younger days. Lightbourne came to England at 24, signing for Scarborough in December 1992 and making his debut in a 4-2 win over local rivals York City. Within less than a year Lightbourne was snapped up by Walsall and at the Bescot Stadium he built a strong reputation as a powerful striker. He was top goalscorer in all four of his seasons with The Saddlers and helped them to promotion to the Third Division in 1994/95, contributing 27 goals. Across those four seasons Kyle scored 85 goals in 198 appearances in all competitions. This form attracted clubs at a higher level and in the 1997 close season he joined Coventry City for a £500,000 fee. He was unable to usurp Dion Dublin from the Sky Blues’ first team and moved on again in February 1998, joining Stoke City. He spent two seasons in the Stoke first team, scoring eight to ten goals a season in the second tier and winning a Football League Trophy winners medal in 2000. He drifted out of the Stoke first team as the new century progressed and after a couple of loan moves he joined Macclesfield in the 2001 close season. He joined the Tigers on loan during his time at Moss Rose.
Lightbourne returned to Bermuda in 2003 and spent four seasons back at his first PHC Zebras. He was part-owner and player-manager of Bermuda Hogges between 2007 and 2009 alongside fellow Bermudan ex-Premier League striker Shaun Goater. Hogges were a Bermudan club that played in the USL Premier Development League, a feeder to USA’s Major League Soccer pyramid, until 2013. He later managed two Bermudan teams, PHC Zebras and Robin Hood. In September 2017 he was appointed the Bermuda national team coach, a role he vacated in May 2023.
Lightbourne was a Bermudan international throughout much of his playing career, scoring 16 goals in 40 appearances. He also represented Bermuda at cricket, playing in the 1990 ICC Trophy (taking 11 wickets) and against Australia in their 1991 tour of the West Indies.
Details
Nationality: Bermuda
Date/Place of Birth: 29 September 1968, Hamilton (Bermuda)
Hull City First Game: 23 March 2002, Leyton Orient A (League Division 3), 33 years, 175 days old
Hull City Final Game: 6 April 2002, Luton Town H (League Division 3), 33 years, 189 days old
Clubs
PHC Zebras (1986-1992), Scarborough (1992-1993), Walsall (1993-1997), Coventry City (1997-1998), Fulham (1998, loan), Stoke City (1998-2001), Swindon Town (2001, loan), Cardiff City (2001, loan), Macclesfield Town (2001-2003), Hull City (2002, loan), PHC Zebras (2003-2007), Bermuda Hogges (2007-2009), PHC Zebras (2008, loan)
Hull City Record
Career: 4 apps, 0 goals
Kyle Lightbourne| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001/02 | 3 (1) | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |