Peter Burge (rugby)


Peter Harold Boyne Burge was an Australian rugby footballer and coach. He represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union. The eldest of the four Burge brothers, Peter was one of the first Australian dual-code rugby internationals.

Rugby union career

Playing rugby union with South Sydney in 1904 the twenty-year-old Burge was selected for the Metropolis 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.
Burge, a lock claimed a total of three international rugby caps for Australia. In two of these matches, he served as captain. His debut game was against New Zealand, at Sydney, on 20 July 1907. He made two rugby union tours, to New Zealand in 1905 with the first full Australian team and later on the epic 1908-09 Australia rugby union tour of the British Isles and France under captain Paddy Moran. On both trips he only played one game due to injury. 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 Burge.

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 on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, captained by his former 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.

Coaching career

Like Frank Burge had done in 1927, Peter in 1937 coached the St. George Dragons.

Death

Peter Burge died suddenly at his brother Frank's house in Hurstville, New South Wales on 15 July 1956, age 72. He was buried at Waverley Cemetery with his parents, Peter and Emily Burge.