James Smith (6 May 1908 – July 1956) was an English

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 made 137 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

playing for Doncaster Rovers, Lincoln City and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. He played at

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Life and career

Smith was born in

Thurnscoe Thurnscoe is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Dearne North ward of the Barnsley MBC. Historic counties of England, Historically within ...

, which was then 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 ...

. He played football for local team Brodsworth before joining Doncaster Rovers of the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

. He made 20 league appearances before joining fellow Northern Section club Lincoln City ahead of the

1931–32 Football League The 1931– 32 season was the 40th season of The Football League. Final league tables The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found aThe Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite and in ''Rothmans ...

season. Smith made his Lincoln debut in November 1931, and appeared regularly as they won the division title that season, to earn promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He stayed with the club for five years, and then joined

, for whom he made just one Second Division appearance. He left Bradford City in August 1937 and spent the 1937–38 season with Peterborough United in the Midland League. Smith died in July 1956 at the age of 48.

References

1908 births 1956 deaths People from Thurnscoe English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players English Football League players Midland Football League players Place of death missing {{England-footy-defender-1900s-stub