Alexander Burdon (31 March 1879 – 13 December 1943) was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and pioneer professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer - a

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Eng ...

. He was one of the founding fathers of rugby league in Australia, representing the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

in the first two Tests played in 1908 and 1909. He was the fourth captain of the Australian team enjoying that honour in the deciding Test of the inaugural tour.

Rugby union career

Born in

Glebe, New South Wales Glebe is an inner-western suburb of Sydney. Glebe is located southwest of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region. Glebe is surrounded by Blackwattle Bay a ...

he played first grade for the district from 1902 and the following year represented Sydney, then New South Wales. He made his Australian representative test debut as

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

, against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

in the 22–3 victory in Sydney, on 15 August 1903.Whiticker pp21-22 In 1904 he represented against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

then toured

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1905. Folklore would suggest that Burdon's injury on the 1907 New South Wales Rugby tour of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

and the resultant unfairness of him having to pay his medical expenses while suffering a loss of wages, was a catalyst leading to the 1907 split away from rugby union. Similar sentiments in the north of

for working-class players who could not afford time off due to injury had indeed prompted the changes that formed the new " Northern Union" two years earlier. However the movement to start a rugby league competition in Sydney was already well under way before Burdon's injury.

Rugby league career

Burdon joined the newly formed Glebe Rugby League Club in 1908 and was named the club's foundation captain. He was one of the five selectors for the Pioneer Kangaroo tour of England. He played in 25 tour matches including the first and second Anglo-Australian Test matches. Eight former Wallabies had debuted for the Kangaroos in the Matches against

earlier that year, Burdon's league Test debut in the first Test against England with Pat Walsh made them the 9th and 10th Australian dual code internationals. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 29.ARL Annual Report 2005 In ''

The First Kangaroos ''The First Kangaroos'' is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film directed by Frank Cvitanovich and starring Dennis Waterman, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, the first-eve ...

'', a 1988

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

–

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

made for TV

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the s ...

, Bluey Burdon's role was played by

Philip Quast Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category. He is perhaps best known f ...

Playing record

* ''Club:'' Glebe Rugby League Club1908-10 20 games, 3 tries * ''Representative:'' Australia (1908–09) 2 Tests.

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burdon, Alex 1879 births 1943 deaths Australian rugby union players Australian rugby league players Glebe rugby league players Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Dual-code rugby internationals Australia international rugby union players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union props