William Smith (23 June 1887 – 21 March 1929) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for various clubs in the years immediately prior to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Football career

Smith was born in

Denaby Main Denaby Main is a village situated between Mexborough and Conisbrough in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Doncaster MBC ward of Conisbrough and Denaby. It was built by the Denaby Ma ...

, in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, and played his early football for the nearby

Hickleton Main Colliery Hickleton Main Colliery was a coal mine in Thurnscoe, South Yorkshire, England from 1892 to 1988. In 1933 it employed 2,560 people underground and 500 on the surface. The coal mine's union lodge was the 400th recipient of the Order of Industr ...

before joining

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

of the Southern League in October 1912. At

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

, he soon gained a reputation as a prolific goal-scorer with 12 goals from 27 appearances. In the 1913

close-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, he moved to the south coast to join

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and made his debut for the "Saints" in the opening match of the 1913–14 season. Despite "showing persistence and industry", he struggled to reproduce the form he had at Brentford. After scoring only four goals in his first fourteen appearances, he was replaced by

Percy Prince Percy Prince (15 August 1887 – December 1973) was an English amateur footballer who played as a centre-forward for Southampton and Boscombe in the early 20th century. Football career Prince was born in Liverpool but was raised in Southampton ...

. Smith was recalled for a further five matches in December/January without managing to score and lost his place again, this time to new signing Arthur Hollins. In the summer of 1914, Smith returned to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

to join

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

of the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Bill 1887 births People from Conisbrough Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster Footballers from South Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Brentford F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Southern Football League players 1929 deaths