| Garth Burkett | |
| Fullname: | Garth Burkett |
| Birth Date: | 21 March 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Keswick, South Australia |
| Originalteam: | West Colts |
| Position: | Centre |
| Statsend: | 1954 |
| Years1: | 1944 |
| Club1: | West Adelaide-Glenelg |
| Years2: | 1945-1954 |
| Club2: | West Adelaide |
| Games Goalstotal: | 92 (11) |
| Sooyears1: | 1947, 1954 |
| Sooteam1: | South Australia |
| Soogames Goals1: | 4 (?) |
| Sooyears2: | 1949-50 |
| Sooteam2: | New South Wales |
| Soogames Goals2: | 3 (?) |
| Careerhighlights: |
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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.[1]
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,[2] 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.[3] In each of the three seasons, Burkett won the West Broken Hill Best and Fairest,[4] and represented the Broken Hill Football League, and New South Wales on multiple occasions, including the 1950 Brisbane Carnival.[5] [6]
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.[7]
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.