Australian Football

Pacy, assured and ultra reliable, Les White was one of the finest half back flank specialists of his day. Essendon recruited him from Hawthorn Rovers, and he made his VFL debut in 1910. The following season saw him suffer the disappointment of missing the Dons' winning Grand Final against Collingwood, but in 1912 he made amends by helping the team to successive flags with a 5.17 (47) to 4.9 (33) challenge final win over South Melbourne.

When Essendon went into temporary mothballs because of the war in 1916 White had played 75 games in six years and was at his peak. Two years later, when the Dons resumed, he might reasonably have been expected to have a good deal of football left in his legs, but he fell out with the club committee, and refused to play. Instead, he went through the longwinded process of seeking a clearance to St Kilda, but when this was finally granted in 1920 White was no longer the same player that he had been prior to the war. White had an aborted stint with the Saints in 1920, but overall added just two games to his aggregate tally.

Author - John Devaney