John Smith (12 August 1855 – 16 November 1934) 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 lea ...

of the 1870s and 1880s. He is also notable for playing

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and was a member of the first British Lions team that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1888.

Football career

Club career

Smith began playing football at Mauchline F.C. before transferring to

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

while he studied. After completing his studies in the early 1880s he joined Queen's Park, where he won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a Scottish Cup final when he scored all three of Queen's Park's goals in the 1881 final replay against

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

. He was not selected to play in the 1882 final and no match took place in 1884 – Queen's Park were awarded the trophy after

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven () is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ''fie ...

failed to appear. In 1884 Smith was part of the Queen's Park team that reached the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

, losing 2–1 to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. Whilst at Queen's Park, he also finished second in the 100 yards at the inaugural

Scottish Athletics Championships The Scottish Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by Scottish Athletics that serves as the Scottish national championship for the sport. The competition is usually held over two days in June, with the ...

1883 Events January * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * January 16 – ...

. Smith often played under the

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

J.C. Miller and J.S. Miller. He also played occasionally as a guest for the Corinthians,

Swifts Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, a ...

and Liverpool Ramblers. He was banned from playing for or against any Scottish club or for the Scottish national team in 1885 after he played for Corinthians against a professional English club, thus breaching the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

's amateur regulations.

International career

Smith earned ten

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in total for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. They compete in three major professional tournaments: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA ...

, scoring 10 goals. His first four appearances were as a Mauchline player – he was the sole club representative to have been selected for international duty. In what proved to be his final appearance before being banished by the governing body, he scored the only goal of the match as Scotland defeated

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to secure the

1883–84 British Home Championship The 1883–84 British Home Championship was the inaugural international football tournament, played between the Home Nations of the British Isles which at the time made up the constituent nations of the United Kingdom; England, Scotland, Wales an ...

(the first edition of the competition).

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Referee

Smith sometimes officiated as a football referee.

Rugby Union career

As well as football, Smith also played

. He played as a forward for

and

Edinburgh Wanderers Edinburgh Wanderers is a former rugby union club, founded in 1868. It was latterly a tenant of the Scottish Rugby Union, playing home fixtures at Murrayfield Stadium for nearly 75 years. In 1997 it merged with Murrayfield RFC to form Murrayfi ...

, and was capped by Edinburgh District in 1876 and by East of Scotland District the following year. In 1876 Smith was a reserve for the Scottish national rugby team. In 1888 he was selected as a member of the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

team to tour New Zealand and Australia (this squad contained few full internationals as the national bodies perceived it akin to a professional enterprise and refused to sanction it). His skills as a player were called upon on nine occasions, though he failed to score in any of the matches. His primary role on the 1888 tour was to act as the team's referee.

Medical career

As a physician, he practised in Brycehall,

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John 1855 births 1934 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Men's association football inside forwards British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Corinthian F.C. players East of Scotland District players Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Edinburgh University A.F.C. players Edinburgh University RFC players Edinburgh Wanderers players Liverpool Ramblers A.F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. players Rugby union fullbacks People from Mauchline Scotland men's international footballers Scottish football referees Scottish men's footballers Scottish rugby union players Swifts F.C. players Sportspeople from East Ayrshire 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 19th-century Scottish sportsmen