Tommy Smart (20 September 1896 – 10 June 1968) was an English footballer who played as a full back for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He made five appearances for England at international level, and also played for the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

. Smart was born in

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

, which was then in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He had four brothers and four sisters. He played schools football in the Rowley Regis area before joining Blackheath Town, and when his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War, he played Army football. After the war, he played for Halesowen Town before signing for

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 ...

club

in January 1920 for a £300.00 fee. He soon established himself in Villa's first team, and made his debut for the England team against Scotland in 1921. The third of his five appearances, also against Scotland, was in the first match that England played at Wembley Stadium, on 12 April 1924. Smart scored 8 goals from 408 Football League matches for Villa, and played another 46 matches in the FA Cup, including appearances on the winning side in the

1920 FA Cup Final The 1920 FA Cup Final, the first since the end of the First World War, was contested by Aston Villa and Huddersfield at Stamford Bridge. Aston Villa won 1–0, with the goal coming in extra time from Billy Kirton, to clinch the trophy for a reco ...

and on the losing side in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

. Only six players have played more times for the club. In 1934 he moved on to

Brierley Hill Alliance Brierley Hill Alliance F.C. was an English association football club based in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands. Formed in 1887 from a merger of Brockmoor Harriers and Brockmoor Pickwicks, the club joined the Birmingham & District League in 18 ...

, and retired from football in 1936. He died in 1968.

References

General * * Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Tommy 1896 births 1968 deaths Men's association football fullbacks English men's footballers England men's international footballers Halesowen Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Brierley Hill Alliance F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Footballers from Staffordshire