Les Mead is an Australian former professional rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 footballer of the 1930s. An Australian international and New South Wales interstate

New South Wales rugby league team

The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...

 representative goal-kicking half back, he played his club football in the New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership with Western Suburbs

Western Suburbs Magpies

The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...

.

Son of Sydney's Western Suburbs' club pioneer Ted Mead, Les started his career in Sydney before playing as captain-coach of Wauchope

Wauchope, New South Wales

-People from Wauchope:* Iva Davies - Musician, Icehouse* Alison Langdon - Channel Nine News Reader - Today Show* Phil Jamieson - Musician, Grinspoon* Andrew Stoner - NSW National Party of Australia leader, Member for Oxley...

 on New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

' North Coast in 1931 but returned to Wests the following year. With Western Suburbs he formed an effective partnership in the halves with Vic Hey

Vic Hey

Vic Hey born Liverpool, New South Wales, was an Australian rugby league national and state representative five-eighth and later a successful first-grade and national coach. His Australian club playing career commenced with the Western Suburbs Magpies and concluded with the Parramatta Eels. In...

. Mead was the top point-scorer of the 1932 NSWRFL season with 104 points (10 tries and 37 goals). In 1933 he was selected to represent New South Wales and later that year went on the 1933-34 Kangaroo tour

Kangaroo Tour

Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France. The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours took place every four years and involved a three-Test Ashes series against Great Britain and a number of tour matches...

. In August 1933, while in England, Mead played for Australia against England in a novel 7-a-side match. He played several matches while on tour but only one Test match. The following year Mead kicked two goals in Wests' premiership final victory.

In 1935 Mead was named captain of Western Suburbs. That season he also scored a club record 27 points in a premiership match and made his final appearance for New South Wales. After the 1937 NSWRFL season he returned to Wauchope, but went back to Wests to end his career with them in 1941 as captain-coach.