Sam Mason-Smith (born 25 October 1991) is 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 ...

who plays as a forward for

Miramar Rangers Miramar Rangers AFC is an amateur New Zealand association football club in the Wellington suburb of Miramar. The club is one of the most successful in New Zealand having won the Chatham Cup four times and the National League title twice. Over t ...

in the

New Zealand National League The New Zealand Men's National League is a men's football league at the top of the New Zealand football league system. Founded in 2021, the New Zealand National League is the successor to the New Zealand Football Championship. The league will ...

Career

New Zealand

Embarking on a move to New Zealand's Richmond Athletic with three other Englishmen for 2011, Mason-Smith gained a switch to

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was a New Zealand semi-professional football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most succe ...

who play in the national league. With the National League in New Zealand played during the summer, Mason-Smith played his winter season for local team

. He continued playing for the two teams until 2015 when he signed with

Hawke's Bay United Hawke's Bay United was a professional Association football club based in Napier, New Zealand. HB United most recently played in the ISPS Handa Premiership – a semi-professional franchise based league, which ran independently of the winte ...

to play National League, finishing the 2015–16 with six goals. Mason-Smith also didn't return to Miramar Rangers for the 2016 season, instead playing for

Wairarapa United Wairarapa United is a Association football, football club based in Masterton, New Zealand and are currently competing in the Central Premier League, Central League. Club history The club was formed by the merger of Masterton (soccer), Masterton ...

Central Premier League The Central League is an amateur status league competition run by Capital Football for Association football clubs located in the southern and central parts of the North Island, New Zealand. From 2021 it is at the second level of New Zealand Footb ...

. In one game, he converted five goals in a 5-0 trouncing of

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in P ...

which was a record for the most goals by a Wairarapa athlete in a Central League meeting, the previous being four. The following season with Wairarapa United, Mason-Smith was tasked with being responsible for Wairarapa's strikeforce again. After a successful season he was awarded the ''2017 Central League Player of the Year''.

South Africa

Heading to South Africa for a one-month trial with

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

near the end of 2017, the Englishman contended in the

2017–18 Nedbank Cup The 2017–18 Nedbank Cup is a South African club football (soccer) tournament. The knockout tournament, based on the English FA Cup format, was won by Free State Stars Free State Stars Football club is a South African professional footba ...

with them, meeting Kaizer Chiefs in the Round of 16.

Return to New Zealand and Australia

In March 2019, after a prolific spell with New Zealand Football Championship side

, Mason-Smith joined

Victorian State League Division 1 State League 1 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 4 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian league ...

side

Preston Lions Preston Lions Football Club (formerly Preston Makedonia Soccer Club) is a soccer club from Preston, a northern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club was established in 1947 to play non-professional soccer matches against other t ...

. After playing winter with Preston Lion's, Mason-Smith returned to

for the 2019–20 season of the New Zealand Football Championship.

Honours

Club

: *

Player of the Year: 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason-Smith, Sam 1991 births Living people Stellenbosch F.C. players Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa English expatriate men's footballers Sportspeople from King's Lynn Histon F.C. players Richmond Athletic FC players Team Wellington FC players English expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Soham Town Rangers F.C. players Miramar Rangers AFC players New Zealand Football Championship players English expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Hawke's Bay United FC players New Zealand National League players Footballers from Norfolk Wairarapa United players