Peter Harold Boyne Burge (1884 - 1956) represented his country at both sports. He was the eldest of the four brothers and one of the first Australian dual-code rugby internationals.
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Rugby union career
Playing rugby union with South Sydney in 1904 the twenty-year old Burge was selected for the Metropolis (City) representative side against the Great Britain tourists. When the All Blacks toured in 1905 Burge played against them firstly for Metropolis and then in a New South Wales side.
He made two rugby union tours, to New Zealand in 1905 with the first full Australian team and later on the epic 1908-09 tour of the British Isles, Canada and the United States. On both trips he only played one game due to injury. Peter played at lock in three Tests (two as Captain) for the Wallabies in 1907 against the touring All Blacks.
On the Wallaby tour of 1908 he broke his tibia in his first match against Devon. He took no further part in the tour and one of the replacements sent over to fill the touring squad was his brother Albert.
Rugby league career
He was one of the fourteen 1908-09 Wallabies including Chris McKivat, Charles McMurtie, "Boxer" Russell and Arthur McCabe who defected to rugby league after their return from the Olympics and the epic tour. In Burge's case he joined his brother Alby in the 1909 "Wallabies v Kangaroos" promotional match which then disqualified him from the amateur code.
He joined the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1910 but then the following year linked with Alby and Frank at Glebe. He toured Great Britain with the 1911-12 Kangaroos captained by his fomer Wallaby and then Glebe captain, Chris McKivat]. He made four tour matches appearances for Australia.
Along with McMurtie and Bob Stuart, Peter Burge made his international league debut in a tour match on that 1911 tour but did not play in any Tests. Collectively they were therefore Australia's 17th to 19th dual-code rugby internationals.
Like Frank in 1927, Peter in 1937 coached the St George Dragons.
See also
References
This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (August 2008) |
- 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.