John Bourke (born ) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFA) and Collingwood reserves in the Victorian Football League (VFL) reserves competition. Bourke played in back-to-back premierships for Preston in 1983 and 1984 while kicking regular bags of goals as a young forward. However, he is best known for shoving an umpire during a match for the Collingwood reserves team in 1985, resulting in a lengthy suspension.

Career

VFA

Bourke played for the Preston Football Club in the

, kicking 104 goals in his 29 games for the club. He kicked six goals in the club's 1983 grand final win over

Geelong West Geelong West is a commercial and residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. When Geelong was founded, the area was known as Kildare but its name was changed to Geelong West in 1875. The main street is Pakington Street. At the 2016 c ...

, and five goals in their 1984 grand final win over Frankston. He was also the club's leading goalkicker in 1983, with 51 goals for the season.

VFL reserves

Bourke joined the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

as a reserves player in 1984. On 8 April 1985, during a VFL reserves game, Bourke kicked

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

ruckman Pat Foy in the groin in response to Foy tagging him throughout the game. When

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

Phil Waight attempted to report Bourke for the incident, Bourke shoved him to the ground and kicked him, and also made contact with a Collingwood runner who was attempting to take him off the ground before running into the stands to attack a Swans fan. The match was being broadcast on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

, with commentator Ray Jordon crying "You've gotta take the boy off!" as the incident unfolded. As a result, Bourke was handed a suspension of ten years, equivalent to 240 matches. It was later reduced to six years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourke, John Living people Preston Football Club (VFA) players Collingwood Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Year of birth missing (living people)