| Les Laver | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth | 9 December 1900 | ||
| Date of death | 9 January 1982 (aged 81) | ||
| Original team(s) | Hampton | ||
| Debut | Round 6, 1926, Geelong vs. Richmond, at Punt Road Oval | ||
| Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1926, 1928, 1931–32 | Geelong | 8 (0) | |
| Coaching career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 1940 | Geelong | 2 (1–1–0) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1932. | |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Les Laver (9 December 1900 – 9 January 1982) [1] was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the VFL during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, or simply called Aussie rules, football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of eighteen players on an oval-shaped field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval-shaped ball between goal posts or between behind posts.
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, are a professional Australian rules football club based in the city of Geelong, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level of Australian rules football in Australia. The Cats have been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with three in the AFL era. The Cats have also won nine McClelland Trophies, a record shared with Essendon.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body, and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League (VFL) as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing in 1897. Originally comprising only teams based in the Australian state of Victoria, the competition's name was changed to the Australian Football League for the 1990 season, after expanding to other states throughout the 1980s.
After five games in his debut season, Laver managed just three more appearances for Geelong, each in different seasons. In the 1940 VFL season he stepped in as caretaker coach of Geelong when Reg Hickey was unavailable and steered them to a win over Footscray and loss to Essendon. In his playing career he had never experienced a loss, playing in winning sides in all but one of his games, the other was drawn. Hickey and Laver had made their VFL debuts in the same match in 1926.
The 1940 Victorian Football League season was the 44th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Reg Hickey was a player, and later coach, of the Geelong Football Club. Between 1926 and 1959 he led the club to three premierships and participated as a player in a fourth. As a strong, fast and intelligent player with exquisite footskills, Hickey donned the Geelong hoops for 245 games in a career spanning fifteen years, including a part in two premierships, two club best-and-fairest awards and nine seasons as club captain. Hickey's involvement with the club after his playing career did not stop there, with Hickey establishing a reputation as a hard but equally fair coach, helping build the team into a powerhouse during the early 1950s.
