{{short description|Australian rules footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Les Gibbs | image = Les Gibbs (before 1944).jpg | alt = | caption = | fullname = Leslie Gibbs | birth_date = {{birth date|1918|08|10|df=y}} | birth_place = Carlton, Victoria | death_date = {{death date and age|1976|04|10|1918|08|10|df=y}}<ref name="australianfootball">{{cite web|url=http://australianfootball.com/players/player/Les%2BGibbs/6443|title=Australian Football - Les Gibbs - Player Bio|publisher=australianfootball.com|access-date=2014-10-16}}</ref> | death_place = Tootgarook, Victoria | originalteam = Nyora | height = 163&nbsp;cm | weight = 63.5&nbsp;kg | position = | statsend = 1944 | years1 = 1939, 1941–44 | club1 = {{AFL Mel}} | games_goals1 = 13 (8) | careerhighlights = }}

'''Leslie Gibbs''' (10 August 1918 – 10 April 1976) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).<ref>Holmesby & Main (2009), p.300.</ref>

==Family== The son of George Gibbs (1879-1943),<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206350894 Deaths: Gibbs, ''The Age'', (Tuesday, 14 September 1943), p.5.]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243379143 Gossip of the Game, ''The Herald'', (Friday, 7 July 1939), p.19.]</ref>

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.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11264954 Melbourne Changes, ''The Argus'', (Friday, 7 July 1939), p.12.]</ref>

In a career interrupted by his military service<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/12685233 Taylor, Percy, "Melbourne are Proud of their Great War Record", ''The Australasian'', (Saturday, 24 June 1944), p.23.]</ref> — he was not listed in 1940<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12434278 Melbourne Exercises, ''The Argus'', (Friday, 5 March 19490), p.17.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204427885 Melbourne List, ''The Age'', (Monday, 22 April 1940), p.4.]</ref> — 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.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224819337 Patriotic Carnival at M.C.G., ''The Weekly Times'', (Saturday, 24 May 1941), p.39.]</ref> Attended by 19,572 people, it raised £1,526 for the war effort.

Gibbs was selected as rover/forward-pocket in the Melbourne team<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244992130 Teams and Changes in One-Day Gala, ''The Herald'', (Saturday, 24 May 1941), p.16.]</ref> — 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).<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205156210 High Speed Football: Patriotic Carnival: Melbourne, ''The Age'', (Friday, 23 May 1941), p.4.]</ref>

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.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205147370 Football for War Funds: V.F.L. Pennant to Collingwood, ''The Age'', (Monday, 26 May 1941), p.10.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205147366 Exciting Grand Final: One-Point Win, ''The Age'', (Monday, 26 May 1941), p.10.]</ref>

===Preston (VFA)=== Cleared from Melbourne to Preston in 1946,<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22235355 Preston Have Promising Recruits, ''The Argus'', (Wednesday, 20 March 196), p.13.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22255293 Players Who Have Been Retained: Preston, ''The Argus'', (Tuesday, 9 April 1946), p.12.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22249240 VFA Clears 30 Players, ''The Argus'', (Thursday, 11 April 1946), p.18.]</ref> he played in three matches, before being released to Brunswick.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22245919 Gossip from VFA Grounds, ''The Argus'', (Monday, 20 May 1946), p.13.]</ref>

==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.<ref name="Nominals">{{Cite web |title=World War Two Service |url=https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=447134&c=WW2 |access-date=24 March 2021 |website=Australian Government – Department of Veteran's Affairs}}</ref> In 1942, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force, ending the war as a corporal.<ref name="Nominals2">{{Cite web |title=World War Two Service |url=https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=900400&c=WW2 |access-date=24 March 2021 |website=Australian Government – Department of Veteran's Affairs}}</ref>

== Notes == {{reflist}}

==References== * {{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 |last1=Holmesby|first1=Russell|last2=Main|first2=Jim |year=2009 |edition=8th |isbn=978-1-921496-00-4 |publisher=BAS Publishing |location=Seaford, Victoria}}

== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{AFL Tables|ref=L/Les_Gibbs.html}} * {{AustralianFootball|ref=Les+Gibbs/6443}} * [http://www.demonwiki.org/Les+Gibbs Les Gibbs, at ''Demonwiki''.] * [http://www.thevfaproject.org/pages/Players/Gibbs,_Les.php Les Gibbs, at ''The VFA Project''.]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Les}} Category:1918 births Category:Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Category:Melbourne Football Club players Category:1976 deaths Category:Australian Army personnel of World War II Category:Australian Army soldiers Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Category:Royal Australian Air Force airmen Category:People from Carlton, Victoria Category:Military personnel from Melbourne Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen

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