Nathan Gibbs (born 22 December 1959) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

sports physician and 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. He played for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

and

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL) competition.

Early life and sports career

Gibbs was a South Sydney junior but was graded by Eastern Suburbs during his final year at school. He returned to South Sydney and made his first-grade debut in 1978. Gibbs went on to captain the club and was named

Dally M The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...

''Second Rower of the Year'' in 1980.

Medical career

During the 1990s, he was a team doctor for Manly Warringah,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and the

Australian Kangaroos The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Comm ...

. In 1990, it was Gibbs who made the decision, controversial at the time, to rule

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sp ...

unfit to play for the Kangaroos. Following the appointment of Chris Anderson as coach of the Kangaroos in 1999, Gibbs was replaced by then

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

doctor Hugh Hazard. Gibbs continues to work in the rugby league arena and was also club doctor for the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

where he was appointed Life Membership on 1 October 2010. He was one of the inaugural Fellows of the

Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians The Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP) is a not-for-profit professional organisation responsible for training, educating, and representing over 350 doctors in Australia and New Zealand. These doctors practise medicine ...

References

External links

''Nathan Gibbs'' at ''Yesterday's Hero''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Nathan 1959 births Living people 20th-century Australian medical doctors 21st-century Australian medical doctors Australian rugby league players Australian sports physicians Parramatta Eels players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Place of birth missing (living people) South Sydney Rabbitohs captains South Sydney Rabbitohs players University of New South Wales Medical School alumni University of Sydney alumni 20th-century Australian sportsmen