{{Short description|Australian rules footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Les Charge | image = | fullname = Leslie Barkly Charge | birth_date = {{birth date|1891|7|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Richmond, Victoria | death_date = {{death date and age|1957|3|30|1891|7|27|df=yes}} | death_place = Bondi, New South Wales | originalteam = Leopold | height = 185 cm | weight = 83 kg | position = | statsend = 1915 | years1 = 1910–1915 | club1 = South Melbourne | games_goals1 = 65 (50) | careerhighlights = }}
'''Leslie Barkly Charge''' (27 July 1891 – 30 March 1957) was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
==Family== The son of Henry Barkly Charge (1866–1912),<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197403130 Deaths: Charge, ''The Age'', (Monday, 11 March 1912), p. 1.]</ref> and Alice Mary Ann Charge (1864–1920), née Kendall,<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28092787 Deaths: Charge, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Monday, 8 August 1920), p. 8.]</ref> Leslie Barkly Charge was born at Richmond, Victoria on 27 July 1891.<ref>''Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria'' Births Registration no.27139/1891.</ref>
He married Nellie May Bethune (1889–1976), at Echuca, Victoria on 26 September 1917.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90864105 Marriages: Charge—Bethune, ''The Leader'', (Saturday, 17 November 1917), p.55.]</ref> They had three daughters.
==Football== thumb|200px|Enthusiast's Letter to the Editor<br>''The Herald'', 21 Sept. 1934.<ref>'Enthusiast', "Best Ever in Victoria (Letter to the Editor)", ''The (Melbourne) Herald'', (Saturday, 22 September 1934), p. 30.</ref> ===South Melbourne=== A powerful tap-ruckman, Charge was recruited from the Leopold Football Club in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA){{Broken anchor|date=2024-09-17|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Victorian Amateur Football Association#Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA)|reason= The anchor (Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA)) has been deleted.}} in 1910,<ref>Holmesby & Main (2007).</ref><ref>AustralianFootball.com.</ref> at the suggestion of the former South Melbourne champion, Harry Lampe.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165033313 Les. Charge pays a Visit" Famous Ruckman meets an Old Friend, ''The (Emerald Hill) Record'', (Saturday, 5 July 1947), p. 4.]</ref>
Charge took a while to establish a place in the senior team; however, he eventually became a regular fixture, playing 56 of his 65 senior matches from 1912 to 1914.<ref>AFL Tables.</ref> He was first ruck in South Melbourne's 1912 VFL Grand Final loss to Essendon and its 1914 VFL Grand Final loss to Carlton. ::"By a popular vote taken by the proprietors of the football journal "The Follower", Les Charge, of South Melbourne, has been acclaimed the best all-round footballer in the League competition. Charge secured over 20,000 votes, and will be presented with a gold medal valued at £2 2/." {{em-dash}} ''The (Emerald Hill) Record'', 27 March 1915.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75010639 (News Item), ''The (Emerald Hill) Record'', (Saturday, 27 March 1915), p. 2]: the amount awarded as a prize, £2/2/-, would have been spoken of as ''two guineas''.</ref>
===North Shore (NSWAFA)=== Along with Des Baird (ex-South Melbourne, ex-St Kilda), Tom Fitzmaurice (ex-Essendon), Billy Friend (ex-Wesley College),<ref>[https://www.nswfootballhistory.com.au/PersonWP/?SelectPerson=13016 Clarence Randolph Friend, ''New South Wales Australian Football History Society''.]</ref> Bryan Rush (ex-Collingwood), Gerald Ryan (ex-South Melbourne), and Paddy Shea (ex-Essendon), he played for the North Shore Australian Football Club the NSW Australian Football Association.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181691047 Fitzmaurice, T., "A Frame Up, ''The Sporting Globe'', (Saturday, 1 June 1935), p.7.]</ref> He played for three seasons (1921 to 1923), and was a member of North Shore's 1921 premiership side.<ref name="NSWAFHS" >''New South Wales Australian Football History Society''.</ref><ref>"North Sydney: D. Baird (capt.), L. Charge, T. Fitzmaurice, J. Dunlop. J. McGrath, C. Friend, J. Somerlad, W. Castles, D. Cohen, B. Quinn, B. King, B. Castles, B. Rush, G. Bingham. M. Learoyd, G. Ryan, J.M. Laughlin, A. Erskine." ([http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168484513 ''The Sydney Sportsman'', 14 September 1921.])</ref> On 9 July 1921, at the Erskineville Oval, he also played for a combined Sydney team against a combined Newcastle Football League team.<ref name="NSWAFHS" />
==Death== He died in New South Wales on 30 March 1957.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RnZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xeQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6468%2C6043428 Deaths: Charge, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Monday, 1 April 1957), p.16.]</ref>
==See also== * 1914 Sydney Carnival
==Notes== {{reflist|1}}
==References== * {{cite book|last1=Holmesby|first1=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim|title=The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers| publisher=BAS Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-1-920910-78-5}}
==External links== * {{AFL Tables|ref=L/Les_Charge.html}} * {{AustralianFootball | les%2Bcharge/2775 }} * [https://www.nswfootballhistory.com.au/person/13001 Leslie Barkley (sic) Charge, at the ''New South Wales Australian Football History Society''.]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charge, Les}} Category:1891 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Category:Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Category:Leopold Football Club (MJFA) players Category:Sydney Swans players Category:North Shore Australian Football Club players Category:People from Richmond, Victoria Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen