George Smith (soccer)

George Smith was an Australian professional soccer player who played as a forward.[2] He captained the Australia national soccer team in 1933. Often considered the best centre-forward in Australian soccer in the 1930s, he had an average of 2.66 goals per game for Australia and has had many goalscoring records throughout his 17-year career.

George Smith
Personal information
Date of birth 1907 or 1908
Place of birth Coledale, Australia
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1926–1930 Corrimal 52 (107)
1931 Gladesville-Ryde 11 (22)
1932 Corrimal 17 (41)
1933–1935 St George 55+ (95+)
1936 Granville-Clyde 13 (17)
1937 St George 19 (41)
1938–1939 Metters 26 (26)
1940 Leichhardt-Annandale 13 (16)
1941 Wollongong 10+ (23)
1943 Woonona-Bulli
Total 216+ (388+[1])
International career
1933–1936 Australia 6 (16)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Smith played for a number of clubs in the Sydney and Wollongong areas including Corrimal,[3] where he was the NSW top goalscorer for the 1932 season with 44 goals and St George up to 1936 where he scored 25 goals in 1933 and 51 goals in 1935.[4][5] He then played for Granville and Leichhardt-Annandale. Throughout his career, Smith scored a total of 651 goals.[6]

Granville-Clyde

Before the start of the 1936 NSW football, Smith signed for Granville-Clyde.[7][8]

Metters

On 17 March 1938, Smith joined Metters.[9] In May 1939, Smith refused to play with Metters after the team was relegated to the reserve grade, he said that if he was not good enough to play in the first-grade he would rather watch the games.[10] He was dropped from Metters to seek a new club to join. He received offers from two clubs Leichhardt-Annandale and Woonona-Bulli to seek his transfer.

Wollongong

Saturday 21 June 1941, Smith made his transfer to Wollongong for £20 and on the same day he played against his former team St George. He announced his arrival in some style as he scored 6 goals to beat St George 10–0.[11]

International career

Smith began his international career with Australia as captain in an international friendly, debuting in a 4–2 win over New Zealand scoring two goals. He became the first player to score a hat-trick for Australia in a 6–4 win against New Zealand.[12] He scored seven goals in the three-match test series all against New Zealand in 1933.[13] Smith was part of New South Wales' team, where he started and scored against his captained international team Australia.[14] He returned to Australia's team with the captaincy given to Alec Cameron. He continued his outstanding goalscoring record by scoring four goals when Australia won 7–1 in July 1936 at Logan Park, Dunedin. A week later, Smith made another record by scoring five goals as he broke the record for most goals in an international match for Australia. For the first time in his national career, Smith failed to score when Australia won 4–1 over New Zealand. A year later, Smith retired from international football.[15] Smith held the record as top goalscorer for Australia for 37 years, until the record was overtaken by Attila Abonyi in March 1973.[16] On 3 May 1937, Smith announced his retirement from international football.[17]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season, and competition. Only official games are included in this table.[18]
Club Season League State Premiership State League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Corrimal 1926 10+24+00003+2+13+26+
1927 10+18+00002+4+12+22+
1928 5+9+00003+3+8+12+
1929 2+5+00002+1+4+6+
1930 1+2+00001+0+2+2+
Gladesville 1931 6+5+0000006+5+
Corrimal 1932 17410024001945
St George 1933 11220066001728
1934 21+29+00111123+31+
1935 18380066002442
Granville 1936 13170000001317
St George 1937 19420000001942
Metters 1938 22230047102730
1939 5300000053
Leichhardt 1940 13160011001417
Metters 1941 10+23+00000010+23+
Wollongong 1943 0000000000
Total 183+317+00202513+10+216+352+

International
National teamYear[13]Competitive Friendly Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Australia 1933 0 0 3 7 3 7
1936 0 0 3 9 3 9
Career total 0 0 6 16 6 16
Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Australia goal.
List of international goals scored by George Smith
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 5 June 1933 Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane, Australia  New Zealand – 4–2 Friendly [19]
2 –
3 17 June 1933 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia  New Zealand 1–0 6–4 Friendly [20]
4 2–0
5 5–0
6 24 June 1933 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia  New Zealand 3–2 4–2 Friendly [21]
7 4–2
8 4 July 1936 Logan Park, Dunedin, New Zealand  New Zealand 3–1 7–1 Friendly [22]
9 4–1
10 6–1
11 7–1
12 11 July 1936 Basin Reserve, Wellington, New Zealand  New Zealand – 10–0 Friendly [23]
13 –
14 7–0
15 8–0
16 9–0

Personal life

George Smith married Miss Dorris Ruddock.[24]

References
  1. ve.nla.gov.au
  2. Howe, Andrew (2018). Encyclopedia of Socceroos: Every national team player. Fair Play Publishing. ISBN 978-0-648-13330-8.
  3. "George Smith Has a Great Record". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. 2, no. 82. New South Wales, Australia. 20 May 1932. p. 2 (The Daily Telegraph Special Football Supplement). Retrieved 24 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Grant, Sid (1974). Jack Pollard's Soccer Records. North Sydney: Jack Pollard Pty Ltd. p. 118. ISBN 0909950741.
  5. "Soccer". Daily Telegraph. 2 September 1935. p. 3 – via Trove.
  6. "Soccer Sharpshooter Heads for 1000 Goals". Daily Telegraph. 3 July 1942.
  7. "Soccer Season Begins". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 18, 545. New South Wales, Australia. 21 March 1936. p. 19. Retrieved 24 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Soccer Season Opens". Daily News. 23 March 1940. p. 10 – via Trove.
  9. "Changes by Soccer Selectors". The Newcastle Sun. No. 6319. New South Wales, Australia. 17 March 1938. p. 17. Retrieved 24 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Offers Made to George Smith". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 19, 536. New South Wales, Australia. 23 May 1939. p. 11. Retrieved 24 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "Soccer Selection Shocks; Upset for Leichhardt in Premiership". Sun. 22 June 1941.
  12. "Second Soccer Test". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 28, 048. Victoria, Australia. 13 July 1936. p. 15. Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "The Australian National Men's Football Team: Caps And Captains" (PDF). Football Federation Australia. ozfootball.net. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  14. "N.S.W. SUPREME". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 681. New South Wales, Australia. 4 May 1936. p. 13. Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "SOCCER". South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus. 7 May 1937.
  16. "George Smith". Football Australia. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  17. "George Smith Retires". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 30, 993. New South Wales, Australia. 4 May 1937. p. 15. Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  19. "SOCCER TEST AT EXHIBITION". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 5 June 1933. p. 3 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS). Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "ASSOCIATION RULES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 784. New South Wales, Australia. 19 June 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "THIRD VICTORY". Sunday Mail. No. 526. Queensland, Australia. 25 June 1933. p. 8. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "AUSTRALIA WINS SOCCER TEST". The Australian Worker. Vol. 45, no. 28. New South Wales, Australia. 8 July 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. "AUSTRALIA'S SOCCER SUCCESS". The Australian Worker. Vol. 45, no. 29. New South Wales, Australia. 15 July 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. "Corrimal". Illawarra Mercury. 6 June 1930.
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