Frank Burge

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Frank Burge
Frank Burge circa 1914
Personal information
Born(1894-08-14)14 August 1894
Darlington, New South Wales, Australia
Died5 July 1958(1958-07-05) (aged 63)
Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
PositionLock, Second-row, Prop
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1911–26
Glebe
 149 137 50 0 511
1927 St. George 18 9 0 0 27
Total 167 146 50 0 538
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1912–26 New South Wales 26 32 32 0 160
1914–22
Australia
 13 7 7 0 35
1911–22
Metropolis
 8 16 3 0 54
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1927–30
St George
 66 44 3 19 67
1932 Eastern Suburbs 15 9 0 6 60
1935 North Sydney 17 10 1 6 59
1936 Canterbury-Bankstown 15 9 2 4 60
1937
St George
 0 0 0 0
1940 Newtown 15 9 0 6 60
1945 North Sydney 15 8 0 7 53
1947 Western Suburbs 20 12 0 8 60
Total 163 101 6 56 62
Source: [1][2][3]

Frank Burge (14 August 1894 – 5 July 1958) was one of the greatest

New South Wales on twenty-six occasions and played thirteen test matches for the Kangaroos
and played for Australia in a further twenty-three tour matches.

Early years

Born on 14 August 1894 in Darlington, New South Wales, Burge was playing first grade rugby union at age 14, the youngest ever to play senior rugby in either code.

Professional playing career

Glebe

Upon switching to the professional

1918
an extremely rare feat in even one year for a forward.

Glebe RLFC 1911 Veteran captain McKivat
centre with ball, 17 year old Frank to his left

On the 1919 tour of New Zealand Burge played in all four tests. In the

Steven Menzies
broke it in 2004.

Burge standing left with the 1921-22 Kangaroos

St. George

The Burge brothers
Burge back row third from right, coach of Saints' 1930 team.

Burge moved to St. George in 1927, retired as a player at the end of that season, and coached the club for a further three seasons. He maintained an average of a try a game for seventeen seasons scoring 218 tries in 213 senior matches with 146 coming from his 154 Sydney first grade matches. That try-scoring tally today stands at eleventh on an all-time list dominated by backs.

Coaching career

Burge's first coaching job was with St. George between 1927 and 1930. Burge coached the club to the 1927 and 1930 grand finals where St. George were defeated on both occasions. Burge's next two coaching jobs saw him take Eastern Suburbs and North Sydney to the preliminary finals respectively. In 1936, he coached Canterbury-Bankstown to their first finals series. He had similar success with Newtown in 1940 taking them to the finals after a second-placed finish. He returned to North Sydney in 1945 and once more guided them to the finals. In his final coaching role, Burge took Western Suburbs to the preliminary final in 1947. Following this match, Burge retired from coaching. He had a unique coaching career as he never once missed the finals with any team he was in charge of.[7]

Retirement & death

Burge was awarded life membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1935.[8]

On 5 July 1958, after watching a Newtown versus North Sydney match at

University rival Dick O'Brien said on Burge's death: "May I say, as Anthony did of Caesar: his life was gentle, the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world "This was a man" '.[9][10] Revered Sun Herald sports journalist, Tom Goodwin said of Burge : "I believe Frank Burge was the greatest forward the game has ever produced. Indeed, he may have been the greatest league player ever."[11]

Recognition

In 2004 he was admitted into the

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.[12]

In February 2008, Burge was named in the list of Australia's

ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[13][14] Burge went on to be named as an interchange player in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panel's majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players.[15][16]

In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century, naming Burge at prop.[17]

Joining fellow pre-WWII greats Dave Brown and Dally Messenger, Burge was inducted as a Rugby League Immortal in 2018, along with recent greats Norm Provan and Mal Meninga.[18][19] Uniquely, Burge is the only Immortal who has not won a NRL, NSWRL or BRL Premiership. On 20 July 2022, Burge was named in the St. George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century as head coach.[20]

See also

  • Burge Family

References

  1. ^ NRL Stats Archived 28 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine nrlstats.com.au
  2. ^ RLP rugbyleagueproject.com
  3. ^ Yesterday's Hero yesterdayshero.com.au
  4. ^ Century’s Top 100 Players Archived 25 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine livenews.com.au
  5. ^ Middleton, David (30 September 2013). "Ten of the most dominant seasons in rugby league history from historian David Middleton". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  6. ^ ARL Annual Report 2005, page 52
  7. ^ "Frank Burge Immortal". nrl.com.
  8. ^ Referee, Sydney. 13 December 1934: Greatest Rugby Forward (page 14)
  9. ^ A Centenary of Rugby League p110
  10. ^ Sydney Morning Herald: Death/Funeral Notices. 08/07/1958 (page 20)
  11. ^ The Sun Herald, Sydney. "Greatest Forward" 06/07/1958 (page 63)
  12. ^ Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame Archived 18 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ARL. 23 February 2008. Archived from the original
    on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  14. ^ Peter Cassidy (23 February 2008). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  15. ^ Todd Balym (17 April 2008). "Johns, Meninga among Immortals". Fox Sports Australia. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  16. ARL. 17 April 2008. Archived from the original
    on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  17. ^ ARL (2008). "Australian Rugby Football League 2008 Annual Report" (PDF). Australian Rugby Football League Limited. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
  18. ^ Newton, Alicia (1 August 2018). "Messenger, Brown, Burge, Provan, Meninga announced as Immortals". National Rugby League. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Five rugby league greats named as Immortals, including three pre-WWII players". Australia: ABC News. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Gasnier joins Immortals in St George Dragons 'Team of the Century'". nrl.com.

Sources

  • Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
  • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
  • Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
  • Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
  • Heads, Ian & Middleton, David (2008) A Centenary of Rugby League, MacMillan, Sydney.
  • Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead: Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland, NZ.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Coach

Western Suburbs
1947 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Frank Hyde
1943-1944
 Coach

North Sydney
1945 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Bill Kelly
1936-1937
 Coach

Newtown
1940 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
St George

1937 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Coach

Canterbury-Bankstown
1936 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Coach

North Sydney
1935 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Arthur Halloway
1930–1931
 Coach

Eastern Suburbs
1932 		Succeeded by
Arthur Halloway
1933–1938
Preceded by
Herb Gilbert
1921–1924
St George

1927-1930 		Succeeded by
Harry Kadwell
1931–1932
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