Billy Burnet (6 March 1886 – 25 July 1958) was a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

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 its m ...

player. He played as a

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. He later became a

referee.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He began playing rugby for Hawick Teviot Union. He played for

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

Provincial career

Burnet played for the

South of Scotland South of Scotland may refer to: * The southern portion of Scotland ** Geography of Scotland * South of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region) * South of Scotland (European Parliament constituency) * South of Scotland District (rugby union) ...

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

International career

He was capped once for

in 1912. The ''Hawick News and Border Chronicle'' on 9 May 1913 detailed the end of season Hawick speech which remarked on Burnet's brief international career:

Their vice-captain, Billy Burnet, had given them a few years of excellent service. Like the captain, he too had been capped on which occasion he had come out of the ordeal with flying colours. Had been playing inside to Sutherland against South Africa, was safe to say that Sutherland's great efforts that day have borne fruit.

Referee career

When his playing career finished, Burnet took up refereeing

matches. Remarking on his retirement from the game in 1937, the ''Hawick Express'' stated:

Billy Burnet whose pre-war days gave great service to our Club took up refereeing in 1919, and was not long in proving that he was as capable a referee as he had been as a player. He was, season after season, in great demand for all big club matches, and was also given control of Trial and International games. At the close of last season he decided to retire, and at the annual general meeting of the Scottish Rugby Union it was gratifying to hear the President. Mr. A. A. Lawrie. pay tribute to the splendid work done for Scottish Rugby by Billy's great efficiency as a referee. I think his maxim must have been "Firmness, fairness and fitness". Mr. Burnet has always been of great assistance to his home club, and he now will be able to watch the Greens and give us advice on how to improve our team's position in the Scottish rugby world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnet, Billy 1886 births 1958 deaths Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union players from Hawick South of Scotland District (rugby union) players Hawick RFC players Scottish rugby union referees Scottish Districts referees Hawick Teviot Union players Rugby union centres