Career
During his refereeing career he was based in Stourbridge, in the borough of Dudley, West Midlands, and was by profession a legal executive. He made the Football League referees list at the age of thirty in 1961. Revenge was to come six months later, in an old First Division fixture at Elland Road between the two sides, on 7 October 1967.
This was McCabe"s last match before retirement and in the summer Burns took his place on the Fédération internationale de football association List.
This is a well-remembered Final, not least for a crucial double-save by North East goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery, as Sunderland, of the old Second Division, defeated Leeds, one of the top clubs in the country at that time, by 1 goal to nil. He was serving as president of the Referees" Association when he took this appointment.
Burns was a regular official in European competitions, at both international and club level He controlled the European Championships qualifier between Portugal and Belgium on 21 November 1971, for a place in the 1972 competition finals.
He would probably have received more appointments of this stature, but for his busy fellow West Midlander, Wolverhampton"s Jack Taylor, who was England"s senior representative at that time.
Burns retired in 1978 after seventeen years of Football League refereeing and nine at international level By coincidence, his career had also overlapped with another long-serving Football League, Final and international referee from Stourbridge - Eric Jennings.
