Cyril Thomas Burke BEM (7 November 1925 – 18 January 2010)Cyril Burke's obituary
Abc.net.au (19 January 2010). Retrieved on 2018-07-15. was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, a

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and national representative scrum-half who made twenty-six

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appearances for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

between 1946 and 1956.

Playing career

Born in

Waratah Australia’s famous waratah (genus ''Telopea'') is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and Tasmania). The be ...

near Newcastle, New South Wales he had a long association with the Newcastle Waratahs club as both a player and coach. He made thirty-six state representative appearances for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

(also called the "Waratahs"). His Australian representative debut was made against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

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in 1946 and the following year he played in two domestic Tests against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

when they toured Australia. He was selected in the 1947–48 Australia rugby union tour of the British Isles, Ireland, France and North America where he played in all five Tests."Burke, Cyril Thomas", pp. 125 ff in Pollard, Jack (1994) ''Australian rugby : the game and the players''. David O'Neil (ed.). Chippendale, N.S.W. : Pan Macmillan. He made seven overseas rugby tours including

in 1949 and

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in 1953 and met those same nations as well as the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

in several Test series played in Australia.

Accolades

Tressider quotes from a 1988 interview with 1947 Wallaby captain Trevor Allan reflecting on the tour: "''I have fond memories of the tour, none better than Cyril Burke, the little Newcastle halfback who, with Col Windon, had most impact on our games. The opposition simply never knew when he was going to put the foot down on the accelerator or pull off that fantastic sidestep".Tressider, Phil (1988) ''Sydney Daily Telegraph'', reproduced in Bray, Gordon (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', Harper Collins Publishers Sydney. pp. 43–46. His 1947 tour teammate Sir Nicholas Shehadie described him as follows: ''"Size was no handicap for this masterhalf-back, certainly the best I ever played with in my career. He had the biggest sidestep I ever saw from any player, delivered quick-fire service from the scrums and rucks and had a keen eye for a possible gap"''.

Honours

On 15 June 1974, Burke was awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

(BEM) in recognition of service to sport. He was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

on 29 September 2000.BURKE, Cyril
''It's an Honour''. The Cyril Burke Medal was named in his honour, and is presented annually to the top player in the New South Wales First Division. He was inducted into the Australian Rugby Union's Hall of Fame in 2015.

References

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Cyril 1925 births 2010 deaths Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australian recipients of the British Empire Medal Rugby union players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby union scrum-halves New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen