Garth Burkett

{{short description|Australian rules footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Use Australian English|date=October 2019}}

{{Infobox AFL biography

| name = Garth Burkett

| image =

| caption =

| fullname = Garth Burkett

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|03|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = Keswick, South Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|08|03|1927|03|21|df=y}}

| death_place =

| originalteam = West Colts

| position = Centre

| heightweight =

| guernsey =

| statsend = 1954

| years1 = 1944

| club1 = West Adelaide-Glenelg

| games_goals1 =

| years2 = 1945-1954

| club2 = West Adelaide

| games_goals2 =

| games_goalstotal = 92 (11)

| sooyears1 = 1947, 1954

| sooteam1 = South Australia

| soogames_goals1 = 4 (?)

| sooyears2 = 1949-50

| sooteam2 = New South Wales

| soogames_goals2 = 3 (?)

| careerhighlights =

• West Adelaide Best and Fairest 1945, 1946
• West Adelaide Premiership 1947
• West Broken Hill Premiership 1949
• Middleton Medal (BHFL) 1949
• West Broken Hill Best and Fairest 1949, 1950, 1951
• New South Wales Vice-Captain 1950 (Brisbane Carnival)
• Stansbury Premiership 1953
• Myponga Premiership 1957

}}

Garth "Gar" Burkett (21 March 1927 – 3 August 2012) was a former Australian rules footballer who played for West Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) between 1944 and 1954.{{cite web |last1=Devaney |first1=John |title=Gar Burkett |url=https://australianfootball.com/players/player/gar%2Bburkett/277 |website=AustralianFootball.com |publisher=Full Points Footy's SA Football Companion |accessdate=25 September 2019}}

Burkett shifted around a number of clubs over his career. Part-way through the 1944 season with West Colts, he shifted to Kelvinator in the South Australian Amateur Football League. He then joined the West Adelaide-Glenelg combined team for the final two games of the season, remaining with West Adelaide in 1945 and cementing his spot in the league team with back-to-back Best and Fairests (1945-46), and representing South Australia at the 1947 Hobart Carnival.

In 1949, Burkett was appointed Captain-Coach of West Broken Hill in the Broken Hill Football League,{{cite news |title=Burkett to coach at Broken Hill |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/11111215 |accessdate=25 September 2019 |agency=News (Adelaide) |date=14 December 1948 |page=7}} a position he held for three seasons, leading them to the premiership in 1949 and winning the Broken Hill League's Middleton Medal the same year.{{cite news |title=Burkett - Middleton Trophy Winner |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141535149 |accessdate=25 September 2019 |agency=Barrier Daily Truth (Broken Hill) |date=19 September 1949}} In each of the three seasons, Burkett won the West Broken Hill Best and Fairest,{{cite news |title=Garth Burkett - Wests' Main Trophy Winner |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141534131 |accessdate=25 September 2019 |agency=Barrier Daily Truth (Broken Hill) |date=6 September 1949}} and represented the Broken Hill Football League, and New South Wales on multiple occasions, including the 1950 Brisbane Carnival.{{cite web |title=Garth Burkett |url=https://www.nswfootballhistory.com.au/person/20122/ |website=NSW Australian Football History Society |accessdate=25 September 2019}}{{cite web |title=Garth Burkett – Champion Footballer |url=https://www.nswfootballhistory.com.au/garth-burkett-champion/ |website=NSW Australian Football History Society |accessdate=25 September 2019}}

In 1952, Burkett returned to South Australia and joined the Stansbury Football Club, who later that season were involved in controversy when they played an unapproved game against a combined Yorke Peninsula Football Association team in Moonta, South Australia, resulting in the club being suspended for the remainder of the Southern Yorke Peninsula Football Association season.{{cite news |title=Stansbury Football Club Out For Season |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/22475613 |accessdate=25 September 2019 |agency=The Pioneer (Yorketown) |date=15 August 1952}}

Burkett returned to West Adelaide in 1954 and once again represented South Australia. In 1956, Burkett was appointed Captain-Coach of the Myponga Football Club, leading them to the Southern Football Association premiership in 1957.