Longevity in elite sport can be elusive, but this year we have seen six of our game’s champions reach the 300 game milestone. Nick Riewoldt, Shaun Burgoyne, Drew Petrie, Scott Thompson, Sam Mitchell and Jimmy Bartel have all reached this pinnacle that only 78 players in the game’s history have been able to achieve.

Since the commencement of the VFL competition in 1897, 12,473 players have played the game at the elite level across the VFL and AFL. The group to have played 300 games represents just 0.6 of one percent of all the players to have played senior football at the elite level.

The first VFL player to have reached 300 games however, doesn’t have his name recorded in the history of the game as having reached this milestone. Our very first and oldest 300 game player is never spoken about in these terms, as the record of his career has been forgotten, discarded and misplaced.

The reason that Peter Burns is not spoken of in the same tone as our modern champions, is because his career straddled two competitions: the Victorian Football Association and its successor the Victorian Football League. The AFL does not acknowledge the individual records of players from the VFA era, even if their career spans the two competitions. So you see, Peter Burns’ great record is not acknowledged by our current day administration.

Peter Charles Burns was born on January 5, 1866 at Steiglitz, an old gold mining town about 40km northwest of Geelong, Victoria. He was part of a footballing family. He and four of his brothers, Harry, Jack, Bill and Allan, all played for Ballarat Imperials. Peter started playing football for Ballarat Imperials at the age of 16, in 1882.  His brother Jack also played for Hotham Football Club in the VFA – Hotham would later become North Melbourne. Bill played with Melbourne from 1886-1888, and Allan played with South Melbourne in the 1890’s.

Football was in Peter’s blood; part of his DNA. He was an all-round sportsman and fitness fanatic, as well as an accomplished cricketer in the Ballarat area, and later in Geelong. When his employment required him to shift to Melbourne from Steiglitz, in 1885, he joined the South Melbourne Football Club, at age 19, where his brother Allan would also play in the 1890’s. In his first year with South Melbourne, the Southerners were undefeated champions, and the young Burns, excelled as a follower, at full back and as a forward. 

Peter Burns played a total of 125 games with South Melbourne over seven seasons, and played in their premiership teams in four of the seven years, in 1885, 1888, 1889, and 1890. He was vice captain for four years from 1888-1891, and was leading goal kicker in 1885 and 1887. Burns was named Champion of the Colony in 1885 and again in 1891. He played four games for Victoria and was captain of the Victoria intercolonial team in 1889.

In 1892, work again took Burns to a different place, and he moved from Melbourne to Geelong, where he was employed to install machinery at the wool business of Dalgety & Co. Burns joined the local Geelong Football Club, and was an immediate success.

He played his first game for Geelong in Round 2, 1892 against Williamstown at the Williamstown Cricket Ground. He had a great physique, was a natural athlete and his stamina was such that he could run all day. He was 185cm tall and weighed in at 82kg. He was courageous, and a great leader, was a man of impeccable values and fairness, and could win games off his own boot.

Today’s game style would be perfectly suited to Burns. He demanded fair play always and was considered one of nature’s true gentlemen. Burns was probably the first “superstar” of our game. He was universally liked and admired by both Geelong supporters and all opposition teams, and he was a great mark and kick, and a skilled ball handler. Burns was truly the envy of all footballers and sportsmen Australia-wide and “the pride of all small youths”.  He would be given the name of “Peter the Great”, such was the admiration of the football world. In 1890, in a game against Carlton to decide the premiership, Burns kicked a 65 metre place kick goal to deliver the Premiership for the Southerners. He was the best, most loved and most famous footballer in the colony in the 1880’s.

Peter Burns played a total of 88 games in the VFA for Geelong from 1892 to 1896, and kicked 27 goals. He also played a further 89 games, and kicked seven goals for Geelong in the VFL competition from 1897 until his retirement in 1902. These games, added to his 125 at South Melbourne, bring his total across the two elite contiguous competitions to 302. He was also captain of Geelong in 1896 and also again in 1900 for a total of 35 matches.

Games

Team                         VFA                VFL                 TOTAL

Sth Melbourne        125                 -                       125

Geelong                    88                   89                   177

TOTAL                       213                 89                   302

Burns was a true athlete and possessed great stamina. Early morning exercise followed by a dip in Corio Bay was the staple of his athletic lifestyle. He had poems and songs written about him and young children, when saying their evening prayers, would say “God Bless Mummy, God Bless Daddy, and God Bless Peter Burns”. He was universally revered across the colony.

Burns’ career is even more creditable when you think that clubs played an average of 19 games per season and no finals matches. Today’s players can play up to 25 or 26 games in a season – 31 percent more games in a year than Burns could have possibly played. Crippling injuries would end careers of many players prematurely, but Burns’ self-discipline and fitness gave him the longevity in the game that was so rare at that time. Simple medical procedures that would today have a player not missing a game were not available then, and many players not only have had their careers ended, but walked with a limp or carried injuries long after they left the game.

The match for Burns’ 300^th game certainly had a bit of romance attached to it. The game would be played on May 31, 1902, at his beloved Corio Oval against South Melbourne, a fitting opponent for his milestone game. Burns had been a true champion of both clubs – and dearly loved by them both – and he would only play two more games after this match, something which no one at the ground that day would have imagined.

Burns was forced to retire from playing football at the age of 36 in 1902, after a serious leg injury sustained in a game against Fitzroy at the Brunswick St Oval prevented him from playing on. He played his last game of football in Round 8, 1902 against Carlton at Corio Oval. On July 14, 1902 newspapers reported that Burns was unlikely to play again because of a “ricked leg”.

Upon retirement Burns took up the role of official timekeeper for the Geelong Club, a role which he held until the end of the 1941 season. Col Hutchinson, AFL historian, has estimated that Burns would have kept time in around 700 matches. From 1894 until 1927, Burns was also a member of the club’s Selection Committee. Peter Burns died on October 11, 1952 at the age of 86.

In the history books, and old newspapers, Peter Burns is spoken about in the terms of a true legend of the game. One of the greatest ever. Mark Pennings described him as “arguably the best player of the century”.

There is no denying that Peter Burns played 302 games of senior football at the elite level and he was the first man to do it – the next person to follow in his footsteps would be Gordon Coventry some 35 years later in 1937! Burns’ record is irrefutable and cannot be ignored, although he is yet to be formally acknowledged in the manner that he richly deserves.

Burns was a true champion in every sense of the word. Let’s celebrate him!

 “Peter the Great”!