Thomas Smart (20 September 1896 – 10 June 1968) was an English

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 ...

who played as a full back for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He made five appearances for

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 ...

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 b ...

. Smart was born in Blackheath, which was then in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. He had four brothers and four sisters. He played schools football in the

Rowley Regis Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It forms part of the area immediately west of Birmingham known as the Black Country and encompasses the fou ...

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 Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Grove Recreation Ground. History The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but rec ...

before signing for

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1921. The third of his five appearances, also against Scotland, was in the first match that England played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

, on 12 April 1924. Smart scored eight goals in 408 Football League matches for Villa, and played another 46 matches in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, including appearances on the winning side in the 1920 FA Cup Final 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–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

. Only six players have played more times for the club. In 1934 he moved on to Brierley Hill Alliance, 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 20th-century English sportsmen