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, almost 12,500 people have played the game at the elite level across the VFL and AFL. 

The group to have played 300 games represents just 0.6 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. 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.

Peter Charles Burns was born on 5th January 1866, at Steiglitz, an old gold mining town, about 40km north west of Geelong.

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 to 1888, and Allan played with South Melbourne in the 1890s.

Football was in Peter’s blood. He was an all-round sportsman and fitness fanatic, and 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 1890s.

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 1885, 1888, 1889, and 1890.

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 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 4 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 and was considered a true gentlemen. He was probably the first 'superstar' of our game.

Burns was a great mark and kick, and a skilled ball-handler. He would be given the name of 'Peter the Great', such was the admiration for him from football supporters throughout the land.

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. 

Young children, when reciting their evening prayers, would reportedly say: "God Bless Mummy, God Bless Daddy, and God Bless Peter Burns."

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 competitions to 302.

He was also captain of Geelong in 1896 and also again in 1900 for a total of 35 matches.

PETER BURNS' CAREER

South Melbourne: 125 VFA games

Geelong: 88 VFA games, 89 VFL games

TOTAL: 302

Burns was forced to retire from playing football at the age of 36 in 1902 after suffering a serious leg injury in a game against Fitzroy at the Brunswick St Oval.

He played his last game of football in round 8, 1902 against Carlton at Corio Oval. Newspaper reports published on July 14th in 1902 reported that Burns was unlikely to play again because of a “ricked leg”.

Upon retirement, Burns took up the role as official timekeeper for the Geelong Football Club, a role that he held until the end of the 1941 season.

AFL historian Col Hutchinson has estimated that he would have kept time in around 700 matches.

Between 1894 and 1927 Burns was also a member of Geelong's match committee.

Peter Burns died on 11th October 1952 at the age of 86.

The fact is Peter Burns played 302 games of senior football at the elite level. 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.

Peter Burns was a true champion in every sense of the word.

Let’s celebrate Peter the Great!