Burnett a passionate Cat supporter to the very end
ONLY three weeks ago, as Geelong methodically disposed of Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium, Peter Burnett had the best view in the house.
Only a select and special few have the privilege of sitting in the coaches box on game day and on that Saturday night it was the club’s long-time backer who sat quietly behind Chris Scott and his assistants.
Knowing how proud Burnett was to be there, good mate Ian Cover sent him a text message after the match congratulating him for his input, to which Burnett replied: “They couldn’t have done it without me.”
News of his passing on Thursday has rocked the Cats, with Scott yesterday saying it had “shaken” the club and the community. Players and staff will wear black armbands against Hawthorn on Monday in a mark of respect to the beloved Lord of the Isles publican and charity worker.
“(It will be) with a heavy heart because Peter, as much as anyone, relished these big games against the Hawks,” the coach said yesterday.
“It put things into perspective a bit. It was really sudden and we really feel for all of the people in Geelong who were close to Peter.”
Burnett’s contribution to the Cats was vast over recent decades.
While the Cats’ traditional end-of-season Mad Monday and Wacky Wednesday celebrations at his pub drew headlines, his work as long-time president of the Pivots coterie group was as profound, alongside his many years of emotional and financial support to the club.
“We’re really saddened to hear of the loss of Peter and it was really sudden and it has shaken our footy club and the wider Geelong community as well,” Scott said.
“Peter was such an important figure around the community. It was only three weeks ago that he sat in our coaches box, which was only one of the many ways in which he supported our footy club financially and emotionally.”
Geelong Team of the Century wingman Michael Turner yesterday recalled how Cats players of the 1970s were instantly drawn to Burnett’s establishments for the quality of the food.
“In the 1970s we used to go to the Carlton Hotel because Peter Burnett was there, the steak was beautiful and I remember going there with Jack Hawkins and those blokes,” Turner said.
“We used to frequent that a little bit and then when Peter got the licence at the Lord of the Isles we’d go there because he had a great reputation for food, so we moved our camp there.”
It did not take too long for the Mad Monday tradition to be born.
“We used to move the Mad Mondays around a bit, we’d go to the Great Western . . . and when Pete went to the Lord of the Isles we moved the Mad Monday there,” Turner said.
“We didn’t have the dressups and all that stuff . . . but we’d have to be at Lord of the Isles by 11am to start Mad Monday and we’d go from pub to pub.”
He said he saw Burnett barely a fortnight ago at the Lorne Pier restaurant.
“He was very passionate about the footy club,” Turner said. “He was head of the Pivotonians, I think he would have loved in life to have got on the (Cats’) board (again), I think he would have loved to have been president of the footy club, he was very passionate about the footy club and very supportive.
“You can talk to a plethora of players who have been to the Lord of the Isles . . . and we had a lot of very good times. He was always very nice, we had bloody good times there.”