Carl Gibson (born 23 April 1963) is an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, and at club level for

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

, as a , or . He attended Batley Boys High School.

Playing career

Club career

Gibson started his professional career with his hometown club

, making his debut in April 1982 against

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

. During January 1986, Gibson transferred from Batley to

for a fee of £50,000. Gibson set an enduring record for Leeds of 91 consecutive appearances for the club before a bout of food poisoning ended his run. Gibson played as an substitute (replacing John Basnett) in Leeds' 14–15 defeat by St Helens in the

1987–88 John Player Special Trophy This was the seventeenth season for the League Cup, known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship purposes. St. Helens won the final, beating Leeds by the score of 15-14. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan. The attendance was ...

Final during the 1987–88 season at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

on 9 January 1988. Gibson played and scored two tries in Leeds' 33–12 victory over

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

in the

1988 Yorkshire Cup 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Final during the 1988–89 season at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

on 16 October 1988. On Boxing Day 1992, Gibson suffered a broken leg in a league match against Castleford. Gibson missed the rest of the 1992–93 season as a result of the injury, and it would turn out to be his last appearance for the club, as he was sold to

in August 1993 for a fee of £15,000.

Representative honours

Gibson won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

in 1985 against France (sub), in 1990 against France, Papua New Guinea (2-games), New Zealand (3-games), and Australia (3-games), and in 1991 against France. Gibson was selected for Yorkshire County XIII while at

during the 1985–86 season.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
When Britain defeated the Aussies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Carl 1963 births Living people Batley Bulldogs players English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers players Great Britain national rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Batley Rugby league wingers Yorkshire rugby league team players 20th-century English sportsmen