Andy Smith (born 6 July 1984) is an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a . Smith was the first try scorer of the annual magic weekend in 2007.

Background

Smith was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England.

Early career

A former junior player with the

based Westgate Wolves ARLFC where Smith topped the try scoring list one season with an impressive 87 tries, Smith came into the Bulls Squad midway through the 2001 season after a string of impressive displays in the Bulls Senior Academy side. Smith made great strides last year making twelve appearances as well as having a stint with his old boss

Karl Harrison Karl Harrison (born 20 February 1964) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for both Great Britain and England, and at ...

on loan at

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. In 2006 Smith was awarded a special prize by the Bulls for finishing Top Try Scorer in the Senior Academy with 27.

Bradford Bulls

Smith turned down a move to Super League rivals Castleford Tigers at the beginning of 2006. Smith told the Bradford Telegraph & Argus: "I'm going to fight my way into the Bulls side." On 14 November 2006 he signed a one-year deal.

Harlequins RL

On 6 February 2007 Smith signed for

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

but was released at the end of the season. It was during this spell in which Smith made history by becoming the first ever player to score at the annual

Magic Weekend The Magic Weekend (known as the Dacia Magic Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is an annual event organised by the Rugby Football League in which an entire round of Super League matches is played over a weekend at a single stadium to promote the s ...

event. He was then quickly snapped up by highly ambitious Halifax on 13 October.

Halifax

Having been released by 'Quins coach Brian McDermott at the end of the 2007 Super League season. Smith joined part-time club Halifax on a one-year contract. Smith left Halifax midway through the 2008 season because of disagreements with senior management.

York City Knights

Smith came out of retirement to play for

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

in 2016.

References

External links

Quins RL profile

Bradford Profile

Welcome Andy Smith
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Andy 1984 births Living people Bradford Bulls players Dewsbury Rams players English rugby league players Halifax R.L.F.C. players London Broncos players Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league players from Wakefield Rugby league wingers Salford Red Devils players York City Knights players