Frank Burge (14 August 1894 – 5 July 1958) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player. He was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia, and later became one of the game's finest coaches. His club career was with

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

and the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

. He represented

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 ...

on twenty-six occasions and played thirteen test matches for the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and played for the Kangaroos in a further twenty-three tour matches.

Early years

Born on 14 August 1894 in

Darlington, New South Wales Darlington is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlington is located about three kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. At the tim ...

, Burge was playing first grade

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 ...

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 The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

, Burge was playing first grade for

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

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

'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 * ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

and

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

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

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

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), ...

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 t ...

where he played in all three tests and twenty 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 Australia 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. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

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 (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

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 St. George 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 and

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

to the preliminary finals respectively. In 1936, he coached

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in Inner South-Western Sydney. The region is located to the north of the St George region (from which it is separated by Wolli Creek) and to the south of the Inner West region ...

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 and death

Burge was awarded life membership of the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

in 1935. On 5 July 1958, after watching a Newtown versus North Sydney match at

Henson Park Henson Park is a multi purpose sports ground in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia. History Henson Park was established in 1933 on the site of Daley's brick pit, Thomas Daley operated the Standsure Brick Company from 1886 to 1914. The br ...

, Burge died suddenly after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, 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 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 ...

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"'. Tom Goodwin, ''Sun Herald'' sports journalist, 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 The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

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 (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * A US Navy hull classification symbol: Landing craft repair ship (ARL) * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. Burge was named as an interchange player in Australian rugby league's ''

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 y ...

''. 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 Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger, (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was an Australian rugby league and rugby union player. One of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, he is recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in eit ...

, Burge was inducted as a rugby league

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...

in 2018, along with recent greats

Norm Provan Norman Douglas Somerville Provan (18 December 1932 – 13 October 2021) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Also nicknamed "Sticks", he was a second-row forward with the St. George Dragons during the first ten of ...

and

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

. 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 20th-century Australian sportsmen Australasia rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Frank Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches Glebe rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Newtown Jets coaches North Sydney Bears coaches Queensland rugby league team players 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