Frank Burge (14 August 1894 – 5 July 1958) was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later Burge became one of the game's finest coaches. His club career was with Glebe and the St. George Dragons. He represented New South Wales on twenty-six occasions and played thirteen test matches for the Kangaroos and played for Australia in a further twenty-three tour matches.

Early years

Born on 14 August 1894 in Darlington, New South Wales, Burge was playing first grade rugby union at age 14, the youngest ever to play senior rugby in either code.

Professional playing career

Glebe

Upon switching to the professional New South Wales Rugby Football League, Burge was playing first grade for Glebe at age 16 and was selected for the state at age 18. After his attempt to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force was rejected because of a speech impediment, Burge devoted his energies to rugby league. At 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. Burge 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. He debuted for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the domestic 1914 Ashes series against Great Britain appearing in all three Tests. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 88. Burge was the New South Wales Rugby Football League's top try-scorer in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

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and

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an extremely rare feat in even one year for a forward. On the 1919 tour of New Zealand Burge played in all four tests. In the

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season, he was the league's top point scorer. Burge holds the NSWRFL/NSWRL/ARL/NRL record for most tries in a match, scoring eight in a club match for Glebe in 1920. Again in 1920 he appeared in all three Tests of the domestic

Ashes Ashes may refer to: *Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), a ...

series and then was selected on the

1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the third ever Kangaroo tour. Again an Australasian side rather than an Australian team alone (although the 28-man squad featured only one New Zealander) travelled to Great Britain to contest the ...

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. He played 16 seasons and a record 148 first grade games for Glebe and was club captain for many years. His career tally of 146 first grade tries stood for eighty years as the highest by a forward until

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

back rower

Steven Menzies Steve Menzies (born 4 December 1973), commonly referred to by his nickname "Beaver", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer best known for his career with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He also played for the Bradford Bull ...

broke it in 2004.

St. George

Burge moved to

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

in 1927, retired as a player at the end of that season, and coached the club for a further three seasons. 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 eleventh on an all-time list dominated by backs.

Coaching career

Burge's first coaching job was with

between 1927 and 1930. Burge coached the club to the 1927 and 1930 grand finals where St. George were defeated on both occasions. Burge's next two coaching jobs saw him take

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

and North Sydney to the preliminary finals respectively. In 1936, he coached Canterbury-Bankstown to their first finals series. He had similar success with Newtown in 1940 taking them to the finals after a second-placed finish. He returned to North Sydney in 1945 and once more guided them to the finals. In his final coaching role, Burge took Western Suburbs to the preliminary final in 1947. Following this match, Burge retired from coaching. He had a unique coaching career as he never once missed the finals with any team he was in charge of.

Retirement & death

Burge was awarded life membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1935. On 5 July 1958, after watching a Newtown versus North Sydney match at Henson Park, Burge died suddenly after suffering a heart attack, 41 days short of his 64th birthday. A large funeral was held on 8 July at the Woronora Crematorium. He was survived by his wife Millie. Burge's former University rival Dick O'Brien said on Burge's death: "''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" '. Revered ''Sun Herald'' sports journalist, Tom Goodwin said of Burge : "I believe Frank Burge was the greatest forward the game has ever produced. Indeed, he may have been the greatest league player ever."''

Recognition

In 2004 he was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. In February 2008, Burge was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. 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. In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century, naming Burge at prop. Joining fellow pre-WWII greats Dave Brown and Dally Messenger, Burge was inducted as a Rugby League Immortal in 2018, along with recent greats Norm Provan and Mal Meninga. Uniquely, Burge is the only Immortal who has not won a NRL, NSWRL or BRL Premiership. On 20 July 2022, Burge was named in the St. George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century as head coach.

References

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.

External links

Frank Burge at the Online Dictionary of Australian BiographIes
*
Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burge, Frank 1894 births 1958 deaths Australasia rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Frank Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches Glebe rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Newtown Jets coaches North Sydney Bears coaches Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportsmen from New South Wales St. George Dragons coaches St. George Dragons players Sydney Roosters coaches Western Suburbs Magpies coaches