Reg Burgess

Reg Burgess
Personal information
Full name Reginald Mark Burgess
Date of birth (1934-08-06)6 August 1934
Place of birth Apsley, Victoria, Australia
Date of death 13 May 2024(2024-05-13) (aged 89)
Original team(s) Apsley
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 72 kg (159 lb)
Position(s) Centre, wing
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1954–1960 Essendon 124 (9)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1960.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Reginald Mark Burgess (6 August 1934 – 12 May 2024) was an Australian rules footballer who played 124 Victorian Football League (VFL) (VFL) games for the Essendon Football Club.

Football

External videos
video icon Country Roots: Reg Burgess, Bomber TV, Essendon Football Club.
video icon Reg Burgess - 2015 Hall of Fame & Milestones, Bomber TV, Essendon Football Club.

Burgess was a centreman, recruited from Apsley,[1] after he finished second in the Kowree Naracoorte Mail Medal as an 18 year old.[2] Burgess debuted for Essendon in 1954. He was one of Essendon's best players in the 1950s and won the club's best and fairest in 1957 and 1960. He represented Victoria in 1957-58 and 1960.

Burgess left Essendon in 1960 at the age of 26 to captain-coach Casterton in the South-East & Border Football League. He was paid more in one season for Casterton than his entire Essendon career.[3] He would lead Casterton to three premierships and returned to Apsley to win another premiership.[4]

Personal life and death

Reginald Mark Burgess was born in Apsley, Victoria on 6 August 1934. He married Margaret Ryan in 1957.[5] Burgess was the father in law of VFL/AFL player Roger Merrett who married his daughter Sharon.[6] Burgess was also the grandfather of Emily Burgess who played netball in the Suncorp Super Netball.[7]

Burgess died on 13 May 2024, at the age of 89.[8]

Awards and honours

In 2002 an Essendon panel ranked him at 13 in their Champions of Essendon list of the 25 greatest players ever to have played for Essendon.

Burgess was inducted into Essendon's Hall of Fame in 2015.[9]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Kelso, Andrew, "Former Essendon Hall of Fame champion Reg Burgess reflects on Footy's Golden Age", ABC Wimmera, Friday, 26 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gascoyne, John (2007). The Mail medal, 1933-2006. ISBN 9780646476704.
  3. ^ The Shirtfront - Local Legend : Reg Burgess, retrieved 14 October 2024
  4. ^ "Reg Burgess is one of the best VFL players you may never have heard of". ABC News. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  5. ^ Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria Marriages Registration no.8033/1957.
  6. ^ "Vale Reg Burgess". essendonfc.com.au. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Emily Burgess". Suncorp Super Netball. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Vale Reg Burgess, essendonfc.com.au.
  9. ^ Hall of Fame - Reg Burgess, essendonfc.com.au, 17 June 2015.

References

  • Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8