Cliff Burge
Melbourne
AFL career
5 games1 goals
- Debut
- R1 1914 v FIT25 Apr 1914
- Most recent
- R18 1914 v SME29 Aug 1914
Stats
Bio
Originally hailing from the country town of Rushworth, Cliff Burge was a promising ruckman and forward recruited from Elsternwick Juniors after starring for the Melbourne High School First XVIII. Standing at 183cm—a significant height for the era—he made an immediate impression by booting a goal on debut against Fitzroy in the opening round of the 1914 season. Burge managed five senior appearances for the Redlegs that year, showing potential as a contested ball-winner before his football career was abruptly cut short by the outbreak of the Great War. He enlisted in early 1915, eventually earning a commission as a Lieutenant and serving with the 24th Battalion. Tragically, after surviving service in Gallipoli and a mustard gas attack on the Western Front, Burge was killed in action at Villers-Bretonneux in August 1918, just three months before the armistice.
Profile
- Born
- 27 Apr 1892
- Died
- 14 Aug 1918 (aged 26y 109d)
- Birthplace
- Rushworth, VIC
- Deathplace
- Villers-Bretonneux, France
Teams
Bio
1 revisionOriginally hailing from the country town of Rushworth, Cliff Burge was a promising ruckman and forward recruited from Elsternwick Juniors after starring for the Melbourne High School First XVIII. Standing at 183cm—a significant height for the era—he made an immediate impression by booting a goal on debut against Fitzroy in the opening round of the 1914 season. Burge managed five senior appearances for the Redlegs that year, showing potential as a contested ball-winner before his football career was abruptly cut short by the outbreak of the Great War. He enlisted in early 1915, eventually earning a commission as a Lieutenant and serving with the 24th Battalion. Tragically, after surviving service in Gallipoli and a mustard gas attack on the Western Front, Burge was killed in action at Villers-Bretonneux in August 1918, just three months before the armistice.