Arthur Gibbs

Arthur Gibbs emigrated to Australia from the United Kingdom in 1884 and immediately founded Victoria’s Anglo-Australian Football Association. A member of the Melbourne Prahran club, he was the foundation secretary of the Association until 1887. He was also a noted player, captaining Victoria in the inter-colonial series against New South Wales from 1884 to 1886. In 1890 he co-founded soccer in New Zealand following his transfer across the Tasman by his employer. A decade later in 1901, Gibbs visited London in an attempt to get a British team to tour. He retired in London in 1909. Gibbs was the Australian representative on the English FA council between 1910 and 1928, and paid Australia’s yearly contribution to the FA from 1886 to 1923, when the Australian Soccer Association was founded.