Robert Edward James Burns (3 June 1884 â 16 August 1949) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
After playing two games for Collingwood in 1904, Burns moved to Perth to teach at the Christian Brothers College and played in Western Australia for Perth and East Perth. He also coached the latter.
Burns then left the country to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, before moving again to become a doctor in Abertillery in Monmouthshire, Wales.