William Philip Burns (19 August 1884 – 17 June 1955) was an

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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Bill 'Boots' Burns played with Ararat Football Club 1904–05, 10 games, 1904 Premiership Burns, from South Bendigo originally, started out at Geelong and in 1908 became a member of Richmond's inaugural VFL team. A follower, he went from hero to villain during the

1909 VFL season The 1909 VFL season was the 13th season of the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 1 May to 2 Octobe ...

after kicking the winning goal in one game and then getting a life ban for a kicking incident later in the year. His goal came in Richmond's round two encounter against

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, after he had received a bump which gave him bad concussion. He was in the dressing room at three quarter time, preparing to go to hospital, but decided to return to the field as the scores were close. Against

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

at the MCG mid-season, Burns was reported for kicking an opponent and suspended for life by the VFL tribunal. Despite the ban, Burns had made three appearances for West Perth in the 1910

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

season. He returned to Richmond in 1912 once his suspension had been lifted, having missed 46 games. Once he left Richmond for good, he played at WAFL club East Fremantle and was a half forward flanker in their 1914 premiership side. He was a premiership player again in 1918 and also appeared in losing Grand Finals over the next few years, mostly as a wingman. Burns then retired, having played 104 senior games for East Fremantle. He was a Western Australian interstate representative at the 1914 Sydney Carnival.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Bill 1884 births 1955 deaths Australian rules footballers from Ballarat Geelong Football Club players Richmond Football Club players East Fremantle Football Club players West Perth Football Club players South Bendigo Football Club players 20th-century Australian sportsmen