George "Dod" Burrell (21 January 1921 – 28 July 2001) 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 later became an international referee and president of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played club rugby for

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *''Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by Th ...

. During the war he played for the 6th Battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, his army side. He captained the squad and they won the British Army championship title.

Provincial career

He played for South of Scotland District.

International career

Burrell was capped four times as a

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

for Scotland between 1950 and 1951.

Referee career

On retiring from playing he took up refereeing and refereed two international matches – one each in the

1958 Five Nations Championship The 1958 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugb ...

and

1959 Five Nations Championship The 1959 Five Nations Championship was the thirtieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby un ...

Administrative career

He was assistant manager of the 1970 Scotland tour to Australia and took over as manager when Hector Monro had to return to Britain to fight a General Electio Burrell also managed the 1975 Scotland rugby union tour of New Zealand and the

1977 British Lions tour to New Zealand In 1977 the British Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand. The Lions played 26 matches, including four internationals against the All Blacks. They lost the series against the All Blacks by three matches to one. The team played as the Briti ...

Burrell joined the SRU committee and served from 1968 to 86. He was President of the

in 1985–86.

Military career

He served with the King's Own Scottish Borderers during the war. He was wounded in Normandy in 1944. He was a company sergeant in the mortar platoon.

Death

He died at the Borders General Hospital in Melrose.

References

1921 births 2001 deaths Rugby union players from Galashiels Scottish rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Scottish rugby union referees Scotland international rugby union players Scottish sports executives and administrators Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union 20th-century Scottish businesspeople {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub