Robert Smellie (also spelled Smillie, born 29 March 1869) was a Scottish

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

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 ...

. Smillie initially played for

Annbank Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway. The village has a village hall, bakery, shop, bowling green, j ...

where he was in the side that reached the quarter-finals of the

1891–92 Scottish Cup The 1891–92 Scottish Cup was the 19th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic when they beat Queen's Park 5–1 in the final after a replay. Calendar Fifth round * Match Abandoned F ...

and won the

Ayrshire Cup The Ayrshire Cup was an annual association football regional competition in Scotland. The cup competition was a knockout tournament between football clubs in the historic county of Ayrshire. The Ayrshire Cup was first held in 1877–78, with t ...

in the same year.Annbank v. Hurlford—Final Ayrshire Cup.
The Glasgow Herald, 15 February 1892 After signing for reigning English

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 ...

champions

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

who were seeking to replace defensive players

Donald Gow Donald Robertson Gow (8 February 1868 – 1945) was a Scottish people, Scottish association football, footballer who played for Rangers F.C., Rangers, Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland and the Scottish national football team as a Fullback (associati ...

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

and John Murray who had all moved on, Smellie helped the

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunder ...

rs retain their title in the 1892–93 season (along with former Annbank teammate Billy Dunlop and almost an entire team of Scots), but despite their collective success, it was felt they were stronger in attack than defence and by the end of the campaign he had fallen out of favour towards the end of the campaign and was not retained – Peter Meehan was brought in as a replacement and Donald Gow later also returned to the club. Smellie moved on to second-tier

Walsall Town Swifts Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflects ...

where he played for one season against the likes of

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

(in their final season of being known as Ardwick),

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, leaving a match against the latter in December 1893 with an injury which may have been significant as it was his last appearance for Walsall. He has often been confused with the better-known

Bob Smellie Robert Smellie (22 December 1867 – 14 October 1951) was a Scottish footballer who played for Hamilton Academical, Queen's Park, Motherwell, St Bernard's, Corinthian and Scotland, as a left back.

of Queen's Park who was a Scotland international in the same era, playing in the same positionRobert Smellie
TheStatCat. Retrieved 21 February 2022Smith, Paul (2013). Scotland Who's Who. Pitch Publishing. ISBN 9781909178847, p. 259 (circumstantial evidence, and more significantly both men playing matches for different clubs on the same day, has shown them to be two different people). Due to this issue, few of his personal details are published consistently.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smellie, Robert 1869 births Year of death missing Footballers from Wishaw Scottish men's footballers Walsall F.C. players English Football League players Annbank F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Men's association football fullbacks