Thomas_Smith_(Australian_footballer)

Thomas Smith (Australian footballer)

Thomas Smith (Australian footballer)

Australian rules footballer

Thomas George Smith (1851 – 16 December 1909) was an Australian football player. He was a foundation player of the Port Adelaide Football Club in 1870 and was also an inaugural player in the club's first SAFA season. During the first three seasons of the SAFA, he won Port Adelaide's best and fairest award.

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Early life

Thomas Smith was born in 1851 in Woolwich, England. His family brought him to Australia when he was three years old.[4]

Football

Smith was arguably the first star player for the Port Adelaide Football Club. He won three consecutive best and fairest for Port Adelaide during the first three years of the South Australian Football Association (later SANFL) from 1877 to 1879.

On 29 May 1885 a football match on Adelaide Oval was organised by the SAFA between an All-Indigenous team captained by Harry Hewitt and a combined team selected by, the then retired Smith composed of players from Port Juniors, LeFevre Peninsula, Fitzroy and Kingston.[5] The match was very close and ended in a draw.[6]

Later life

Smith worked as a tailor on Commercial Road, Port Adelaide.[7]

Personal life

Thomas Smith was a cousin to Australian artist Mortimer Menpes.[8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Smith (Australian footballer).
  1. [1]
    "Obituaries of the Week". Observer. Vol. LXVI, no. 5, 260. South Australia. 25 December 1909. p. 38. Retrieved 28 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. [2]
    "Death Of MR. T. G. Smith". The Express and Telegraph. South Australia. 17 December 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 4 May 2020 – via Trove.
  3. [3]
    "The Ultimate Port Adelaide Football Club Honour Board". Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  4. [4]
    "DEATH OF MR. T. G. SMITH". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. XLVII, no. 13, 888. South Australia. 17 December 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 18 August 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. [5]
    "THE ADELAIDE OVAL". Adelaide Observer. Vol. XLII, no. 2278. South Australia. 30 May 1885. p. 20. Retrieved 18 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. [6]
    "Football". The South Australian Advertiser. Vol. XXVII, no. 8304. 30 May 1885. p. 7. Retrieved 17 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. [7]
    "WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18". South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail. Adelaide. 21 December 1878. p. 11. Retrieved 17 February 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. [8]
    "DEATH OF MR. T. G. SMITH". The Express and Telegraph. Vol. XLVII, no. 13, 888. South Australia. 17 December 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 18 August 2018 – via National Library of Australia.


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