| Les Charge | |
| Fullname: | Leslie Barkly Charge |
| Birth Date: | 27 July 1891 |
| Birth Place: | Richmond, Victoria |
| Death Place: | Bondi, New South Wales |
| Originalteam: | Leopold |
| Height: | 185 cm |
| Weight: | 83 kg |
| Statsend: | 1915 |
| Years1: | 1910–1915 |
| Club1: | South Melbourne |
| Games Goals1: | 65 (50) |
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).
The son of Henry Barkly Charge (1866–1912),[1] and Alice Mary Ann Charge (1864–1920), née Kendall,[2] Leslie Barkly Charge was born at Richmond, Victoria on 27 July 1891.[3]
He married Nellie May Bethune (1889–1976), at Echuca, Victoria on 26 September 1917.[4] They had three daughters.
A powerful tap-ruckman, Charge was recruited from the Leopold Football Club in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA) in 1910,[5] [6] at the suggestion of the former South Melbourne champion, Harry Lampe.[7]
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.[8] 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/." The (Emerald Hill) Record, 27 March 1915.[9]
Along with Des Baird (ex-South Melbourne, ex-St Kilda), Tom Fitzmaurice (ex-Essendon), Billy Friend (ex-Wesley College),[10] 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.[11] He played for three seasons (1921 to 1923), and was a member of North Shore's 1921 premiership side.[12] [13] On 9 July 1921, at the Erskineville Oval, he also played for a combined Sydney team against a combined Newcastle Football League team.[12]
He died in New South Wales on 30 March 1957.[14]