Alfred Lewis "Smacker" Blair (23 January 1896 – 28 September 1944) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer and coach whose playing career ran from 1917 to 1930 with South Sydney. A skilled , he made a single appearance for the Australian national team in 1924.

Club career

Blair played his club football career with South Sydney, whom he captained to premiership victories in

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

(undefeated),

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

and

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

. He was the

1927 NSWRFL season The 1927 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twentieth season of Sydney's top-level rugby league club competition, Australia's first. Nine teams from across the city contested during the season, which culminated in South Sy ...

's top point scorer and was captain-coach of the South Sydney club that year. He took a year off from Sydney football in 1928 when he traveled to Queensland to captain-coach

Longreach Longreach is a rural town and locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and I ...

. He returned to Souths for his final playing year in 1929, winning a premiership and leading the side on the first tour of New Zealand by a Sydney club team. After finishing his Sydney career with Souths, he captain-coached the Waratah-Mayfield club in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

in 1931. He finished his career at

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...

before returning to Sydney. Blair played 167 first grade games for the South Sydney club between 1917 and 1930 scoring 37 tries and 120 goals for a total of 351 points. The noted journalist

Claude Corbett Claude Gordon Corbett (1885–1944) was an Australian sporting journalist and was the sporting editor for Sydney's ''Sun'' newspaper in the early twentieth century. Early life Claude Corbett was born in Waterloo, New South Wales in 1885 and ...

said of him, "He was beyond doubt the finest rugby league captain Sydney club football has ever known. He had an uncanny intuition of positional play."

Representative career

Blair played seven games for the

New South Wales rugby league team The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the an ...

in 1919 and 1927. He also played one test match for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

against the touring Great Britain team in 1924. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 128.

Post-playing

Blair coached Western Suburbs for the 1943 NSWRFL season, after which he was succeeded by Henry Bolewski. He then coached South Sydney for the 1944 NSWRFL season. Blair had just completed the season coaching his old club when he died suddenly at his Coogee home on 28 September 1944. Up until his death, he was a popular steward at the NSW Leagues Club, and became ill at work a few days before he died. He was survived by his son, Alf. A large funeral was held for Smacker at St. Brigid's Church, Coogee where many past and present members of the South Sydney District Rugby League Football club were present. He was buried at

Botany Cemetery Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Eastern Suburbs Crematorium and Botany General Cemetery (a.k.a. Botany Cemetery), is a cemetery and crematorium on Bunnerong Road in Matraville, New South Wales, in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburbs dis ...

on 30 September 1944.''The Sydney Morning Herald''. 30 September 1944 Death/Funeral Notice, Article

References

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm. ''The ABC of Rugby League''. Australia: ABC Books, 2006. * Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney * Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) ''The History of Rugby League Clubs'', New Holland, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Alf 1896 births 1944 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Burials at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs captains South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches South Sydney Rabbitohs players Western Suburbs Magpies coaches New South Wales rugby league team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen