Gil Langley

Gilbert Roche Andrews Langley (14 September 1919 – 14 May 2001) was an Australian Test cricketer, champion Australian rules footballer and member of parliament, serving as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1977 to 1979 for the Don Dunstan Labor government.

Born in North Adelaide, South Australia, Langley attended public schools and gained an apprenticeship as an electrician. He also gained a reputation as an all round sportsman, starring in cricket and Australian rules football as a junior, being coached in both by former Test cricketer and leading footballer Vic Richardson.

Australian Rules footballer Langley made his debut as a rover for South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club Sturt in 1939, playing 163 games and kicking 341 goals, captaining the club in 1945 and 1947 and winning Sturt's Best and Fairest award in 1945 and 1946. He also played 11 games for South Australia (kicking 19 goals), including a stint as captain and, while stationed in Melbourne in the munitions department during World War II, Langley played four games for Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), Considered "one of the great and delightful eccentrics" of the South Australian parliament, Langley was an old style Labor politician who had become disillusioned with the direction his party had taken under Don Dunstan on social issues like liberalising homosexuality laws. He was succeeded by Labor's Kym Mayes at the 1982 election.

Later life In the Australia Day Honours of 1984, Langley was made a member in the general division of the Order of Australia. in 2001 he was named an Inaugural Sturt Football Club Hall of Fame inductee and in recognition of his services to cricket, the Gil Langley Function Room at Adelaide Oval was named in his honour.

He spent much of his retirement playing lawn bowls and died after a long fight with Alzheimer's disease, survived by two sons, two daughters and nine grandchildren.

Langley's nephew, Jeff Langley, played cricket for South Australia and Queensland between 1969–70 and 1979–80.