Thomas Smalley (13 January 1912 – 1 April 1984) 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 half-back for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in the post-war period, making a total of over 420 appearances for the three clubs. He also made one appearance for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1936.

Career

Smalley was born at

Kinsley, West Yorkshire __NOTOC__ Kinsley is a village in the civil parish of Hemsworth, and the City of Wakefield district of West Yorkshire, England. Kinsley is a rural, ex-mining village. Its neighbouring villages are Fitzwilliam to the north, to which it is con ...

and after school he worked for the nearby

South Kirkby South Kirkby is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The town forms half of the civil parish of South Kirkby and Moorthorpe. The parish has a population ...

Colliery. Whilst playing for

, he was spotted by a scout from

who signed him in May 1931. Whilst at South Kirkby he was also occasionally called upon to play for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

reserves, but ultimately Wolves beat Barnsley to his registration. As a schoolboy he also represented the Yorkshire County team. In his final year at South Kirkby he was prolific, scoring at least 50 goals in the season. At the end of his first season with the Molineux club, Wolves won 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 ...

title to return to the First Division after an absence of 26 years. Smalley had a "never-say-die" attitude which brought him to the attention of the

selectors who picked him to play at right-half for the

Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixture ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

on 17 October 1936. England lost the match 2–1, with Wales going on to claim the championship; Smalley was replaced in the next international, against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, by Everton's

Cliff Britton Clifford Samuel Britton (29 August 1909 – 1 December 1975) was an English football player and manager. Playing career After playing amateur football for a number of teams in the Bristol area, his professional playing career began when he sig ...

and never played international football again. Smalley helped Wolves reach the runners-up position in the First Division in 1937–38 before being sold to

for £4,500 in August 1938. In his seven years at Wolves, Smalley made nearly 200 first-team appearances in all competitions. On joining Norwich, Smalley was appointed team captain and was ever-present during the 1938–39 season; Smalley's experience, however, was not able to prevent Norwich finishing in the penultimate position in the table and they were relegated to the

Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

. Smalley played in the first three matches of the 1939–40 season before the League was abandoned following the outbreak of the

. Smalley remained at the

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. N ...

club throughout the war but was transferred in October 1945 to fellow Third Division South club,

where he "formed a formidable partnership with

Bill Barron William Barron (26 October 1917 – 2 January 2006) was an English sportsman, who played football in the higher leagues before the Second World War and, along with some football, first-class cricket afterwards. Sporting career William Barron ...

as the last outfield line of defence". He remained with "the Cobblers" until 1951 when, in his fortieth year, he dropped out of League football. He then had a spell as player-coach at Lower Gornal Athletic before retiring completely.

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1931–32 *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

runners-up: 1937–38

References

External links

* * * * *
Article on Spartacus website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smalley, Tom 1912 births Sportspeople from Hemsworth Sportspeople from the City of Wakefield Footballers from West Yorkshire 1984 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football defenders South Kirkby Colliery F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Gornal Athletic F.C. players England men's international footballers