Scotch College

The mystery man of the rules

T H Smith, though well known in his day, is certainly the least known of the writers of the rules of Australian football.

WORDS: Mr David Ashton

‘His volatile personality was well known on and off the field. He argued with players on the field … He was highly competitive.’

In many ways, Thomas Henry Smith is the mystery man of the first set of rules – even to the point that his initials – T.H. – are absent from the handwritten 1859 rules, leaving the rather anonymous sounding ‘Smith’. He is certainly the least known of the four early rule writers.

Tom Wills recalled him as one of these four first writers of the 1859 code of rules, which took place in the back room of the Wellington Parade hotel. Smith attended many of the early meetings from 1858 through to the early 1860s, when the rules and the shape of the ball were vigorously canvassed.

The biographical details of his life are somewhat sparse. He was Irish born, and according to historian Gillian Hibbins in her book, Running with the Ball, he was ‘the son of a baker, grocer and spirit merchant in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland, where he was educated by Mr William Hogg, headmaster of the Free Grammar School.’ He went on to study at Trinity College, Dublin, in the late 1840s.

He became Classics Master at Scotch. The boys called him ‘Red’ Smith, but it is unclear whether this was because of his hair colour or an allusion to his temper. He was also nicknamed ‘Football Smith’ and recalled as a player of some skill.

Certainly his volatile personality was well known on and off the field. He argued with players on the field, and with those who wrote letters with which he disagreed. He was highly competitive, and not one to let a slight remain unanswered.

Like so many of the other early footballers, Smith had no lack of confidence in his own views. In 1876, he wrote an antagonistic letter to the Australasian newspaper, in which he stated clearly how the rules came to be written by Tom Wills, William Hammersley, James Thompson and himself.

During his life, whenever the rules were mentioned Smith unfortunately was forgotten as one of the seminal figures. In response to one such slight he wrote a public letter in 1876:

‘The Melbourne [Club] originated with Mr Wills, Mr Hammersley and myself, as we walked from the cricket ground. Mr. Thompson was not then present, but joined us afterwards at the Parade Hotel, where we formed ourselves into a committee, adding to our number Mr Bruce, one of the best players of the early times of football …’

‘In the first couple of years of the game, Smith’s name is one of the more prominent, and he is regularly described as a captain picking players.’

Unlike the other rule writers, Smith was not known as a top-class cricketer. However, in the later years of the nineteenth century his contemporaries recalled Smith as a footballer of some note, and he was apparently the second captain of the Melbourne Football Club after Tom Wills. As captain, he would have had a significant say in the shaping of the early rules, for it was the players on the field who wielded great influence.

In the first couple of years of the game, Smith’s name is one of the more prominent, and he is regularly described as a captain picking players. This is an extract from Bell’s Life in Victoria of 19 May 1860:

‘Report of Melb FC v Richmond FC. First major match of the season. Played on the MCG.

Tom Wills and Thomas Smith (of Scotch College) were the captain of Richmond and Melbourne respectively.

RFC – red riband over the left shoulder; MFC in white but with bits of coloured caps. Smith kicked off the first ball. Rushes, tussles, A good description of the game – Matters went on in this way until nearly five o’clock when the captain of the Melbourne team wanted to cut the game short; but Mr Wills knowing that if his side had the worst of it as to weights, they had the advantage of wind, stoutly refused to accede to the proposal and determined to play on until the time agreed upon – a quarter past five. (RFC scored, and tied with MFC in the last few minutes.)

The Argus of 18 June 1860 reported on a match ‘… between the Melbourne and Richmond FCs. About two dozen of the best players in and about Melbourne were ranged pretty equally on one side or the other ... Richmond, though a man or two short of their number, and decidedly the lighter crew, had the advantage of Mr Wills’s captaincy, who, both as player and general, has no rival on this side of the equator, while Mr T H Smith, no mean proficient in the game, led the van of the yet unconquered whites … Mr Hammersley kicked the first goal … Messrs Harrison, Wardell, Bruce, and others, the fates had declared against Richmond for the nonce, for once more did the Hammerslian boot turn up at the right moment and in the right direction … Melbourne (won) …’ (The ‘unconquered whites’ refers to the Melbourne Football Club.)

The lllustrated Melbourne Post of September 1862 contained a report on a game between Melbourne and Geelong football clubs. H C A Harrison captained Geelong, and Melbourne was under T H Smith. The extract provides evidence of Smith’s competitive nature:

‘The Geelong captain kept his men well together, and bore down upon his opponents … Mr Harrison, the captain of the Geelong team, refused to allow the goal on the ground that it had not been fairly kicked. The Melbourne captain and his men, not feeling any inclination to give up what they conceived to be right, laid claim to the game they had won, and both sides thereupon retired.’

This was the nature of the game in the first decade: raw and crude. Partly as a result of this dispute, it was suggested that neutral umpires, rather than the captains, be appointed to decide upon the rules.

Thomas Smith indeed later umpired matches – he was a central umpire, but the job was not nearly as exhausting as it is today. Indeed, it was not even considered necessary, according to some reports, for the umpires to change out of civilian clothes.

In 1865, years after he helped pen the rules, Smith was observed watching a game of football and remembered as a former captain of the MFC. He was remembered well and with recollection of his skill.

The later life of Thomas Henry Smith is also somewhat of a mystery; however, it is known that he left Victoria to live in South Australia. GS