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Les Gibbs
Les Gibbs
Personal information
Full name	Leslie Gibbs
Date of birth	10 August 1918
Place of birth	Carlton, Victoria
Date of death	10 April 1976 (aged 57)
Place of death	Tootgarook, Victoria
Original team(s)	Nyora
Height	163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	63.5 kg (140 lb)
Playing career1
Years	Club
1939, 1941–44	Melbourne
	1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1944.
	Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Leslie Gibbs (10 August 1918 – 10 April 1976) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[2]

Family

The son of George Gibbs (1879-1943),^[3] and Ada Alice Gibbs (1879-1962), née Musgrove, Leslie Gibbs was born at Carlton, Victoria on 10 August 1918. His brother, George Gibbs (1905-1987), played with Fitzroy and Collingwood.^[4]

He married Gladwys Lesley Clements in 1942.

Football

Melbourne (VFL)

Recruited from Parkdale Football Club in 1939, he showed good form in the Seconds, and was selected to play his first match for the Melbourne First XVIII, against Richmond, at the Punt Road Oval, on 8 July 1939, in place of the suspended Ron Barassi.^[5]

In a career interrupted by his military service^[6] — he was not listed in 1940^[7]^[8] — he played a total of 13 senior games with Melbourne (including 9 of the team's last 10 matches in 1942).

VFL "Patriotic" Carnival (1941)

In 1941, the VFL postponed its Round 5 matches and conducted a "patriotic" lightning carnival at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday 24 May 1941.^[9] Attended by 19,572 people, it raised £1,526 for the war effort.

Gibbs was selected as rover/forward-pocket in the Melbourne team^[10] — from which a significant number of talented footballers were missing: Bill Baxter (ankle); Geoff/Jeff Baldwin (knee); Adrian Dullard (thigh); Fred Fanning (knee); Dick Hingston (ill); Allan La Fontaine (Infected leg); Wally Lock (ankle); Jack Mueller (in Sydney with the VFL team, playing against NSW); Hugh Murnane (knee); Jack O'Keefe (thigh); Danny Powell (ankle); Alby Rodda (broken leg); and Ray Wartman (knee).^[11]

Collingwood won the carnival, defeating Melbourne, in fading light, on a bitterly cold day, and heavy rain, by a point, 3.2 (20) to 3.1 (19); and Gibbs was one of Melbourne's best players in each of its four carnival games.^[12]^[13]

Preston (VFA)

Cleared from Melbourne to Preston in 1946,^[14]^[15]^[16] he played in three matches, before being released to Brunswick.^[17]

Military service

In July 1940, nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War, Gibbs enlisted in the Australian Army as a private, being discharged after two months of service.^[18] In 1942, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force, ending the war as a corporal.^[19]

Notes

^ "Australian Football - Les Gibbs - Player Bio". australianfootball.com. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
^ Holmesby & Main (2009), p.300.
^ Deaths: Gibbs, The Age, (Tuesday, 14 September 1943), p.5.
^ Gossip of the Game, The Herald, (Friday, 7 July 1939), p.19.
^ Melbourne Changes, The Argus, (Friday, 7 July 1939), p.12.
^ Taylor, Percy, "Melbourne are Proud of their Great War Record", The Australasian, (Saturday, 24 June 1944), p.23.
^ Melbourne Exercises, The Argus, (Friday, 5 March 19490), p.17.
^ Melbourne List, The Age, (Monday, 22 April 1940), p.4.
^ Patriotic Carnival at M.C.G., The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 24 May 1941), p.39.
^ Teams and Changes in One-Day Gala, The Herald, (Saturday, 24 May 1941), p.16.
^ High Speed Football: Patriotic Carnival: Melbourne, The Age, (Friday, 23 May 1941), p.4.
^ Football for War Funds: V.F.L. Pennant to Collingwood, The Age, (Monday, 26 May 1941), p.10.
^ Exciting Grand Final: One-Point Win, The Age, (Monday, 26 May 1941), p.10.
^ Preston Have Promising Recruits, The Argus, (Wednesday, 20 March 196), p.13.
^ Players Who Have Been Retained: Preston, The Argus, (Tuesday, 9 April 1946), p.12.
^ VFA Clears 30 Players, The Argus, (Thursday, 11 April 1946), p.18.
^ Gossip from VFA Grounds, The Argus, (Monday, 20 May 1946), p.13.
^ "World War Two Service". Australian Government – Department of Veteran's Affairs. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
^ "World War Two Service". Australian Government – Department of Veteran's Affairs. Retrieved 24 March 2021.

References

Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2009). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (8th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-00-4.