Frank Burge: Difference between revisions
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==Records and accolades== |
==Records and accolades== |
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He was the [[New South Wales Rugby Football League|NSW Rugby Football League's]] top try-scorer in [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1915|1915]], [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1916|1916]] and [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1918|1918]] an |
He was the [[New South Wales Rugby Football League|NSW Rugby Football League's]] top try-scorer in [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1915|1915]], [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1916|1916]] and [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1918|1918]] an extremely rare feat in even one year for a forward. In the [[New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1920|1920]] season, he was the [[New South Wales Rugby Football League|League's]] top point scorer. |
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He holds the standing record for tries in a match set when he scored eight in a club match for Glebe in 1920. His career tally of 146 first grade tries stood for eighty years as the highest by a forward until [[Steven Menzies]] broke it in 2004. 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 eighth on an all-time list dominated by backs. |
He holds the standing record for tries in a match set when he scored eight in a club match for Glebe in 1920. His career tally of 146 first grade tries stood for eighty years as the highest by a forward until [[Steven Menzies]] broke it in 2004. 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 eighth on an all-time list dominated by backs. |
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Revision as of 04:46, 27 May 2009
 Frank Burge circa 1914 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Frank Burge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 93 kg (205 lb; 14 st 9 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Frank 'Chunky' Burge (born 14 August, 1894 in Darlington, New South Wales, died 5 July, 1958 in Marrickville, New South Wales) was the one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia.[1] Later he was one of the game's finest coaches.
His club career was with Glebe and the St. George Dragons. He represented New South Wales on eighteen occasions. He played thirteen Tests for the Kangaroos and played for Australia in a further twenty three tour matches.
Club and representative career
Frank was a sensation as a teenager and played 1st grade rugby union at age 14, the youngest ever to play senior football in either code. Upon switching to the professional code, Frank was playing first grade for Glebe at age 16 and was selected for the state at age 18.
He debuted for Australia in the domestic 1914 Ashes series against Great Britain appearing in all three Tests, and on the 1919 tour of New Zealand in all four tests. Again in 1920 he appeared in all three Tests of the domestic Ashes series and then was selected on the 1921-22 Kangaroo tour where he played in all three tests and twenty representative tour matches scoring 33 tries in 23 matches, more than any touring forward before or since. Burge's representative record shows him appearing in every single Australian Test match played in the war-interrupted eight year period between 1914 and 1922.
Records and accolades
He was the NSW Rugby Football League's top try-scorer in 1915, 1916 and 1918 an extremely rare feat in even one year for a forward. In the 1920 season, he was the League's top point scorer.
He holds the standing record for tries in a match set when he scored eight in a club match for Glebe in 1920. His career tally of 146 first grade tries stood for eighty years as the highest by a forward until Steven Menzies broke it in 2004. 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 eighth on an all-time list dominated by backs.
In 2004 he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame[2].
In February 2008, Frank Burge was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[3][4] 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.[5][6]
The man and his playing style
At 93 kg and equally effective anywhere in the forwards from lock to prop, he had the speed of a back to complement his strength and an anticipation that made him a support player without peer. He was a teetotaller who was way ahead of his time in observing a strict diet, he used coaching concepts familiar in modern sports psychology and upheld an all-year training regime that continued right through the long Sydney summer off-season.
The Heads/Middleton reference quotes his colleague and former University rival Dick O'Brien who said on Burge's death in 1958: "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" '.[7].
See also
References
- ^ Century's Top 100 Players
- ^ Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
- ^ "Centenary of Rugby League - The Players". NRL & ARL. 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Peter Cassidy (2008-02-23). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Todd Balym (2008-04-17). "Johns, Meninga among Immortals". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Team of the Century Announced". NRL & ARL. 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ [ A Centenary of Rugby League p110 ]
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.