David Smith

Who was David Smith?

David Bertram Miller Smith was an Australian sportsman. His father was a champion Australian rules footballer for Carlton when Carlton was still in the Victorian Football Association competition.

Although born in Richmond, he played 142 games of Australian rules football in the Victorian Football League with Essendon from 1903 to 1913, scoring 114 goals, captaining the Essendon team in its 1911 Premiership year; his decision to go to Essendon was because Richmond was a member of the Victorian Football Association at the time.

He later played one match for Richmond in 1914, scoring 3 goals, and then retired.

He played District Cricket with Richmond Cricket Club, captaining the team from 1910 to 1915, scoring 2404 runs, and winning the batting average in seasons 1908-1909 and 1909-1910.

He played 46 first-class matches for Victoria.

He "toured" New Zealand with the Australian side without being selected to play in the 1910-11 summer, and he played 2 Test matches for Australia in 1912. Having failed to appear at a disciplinary hearing of the Australian Cricket Board, conducted on the 1912 team's return to Australia to answer allegations that had been specifically levelled against him as an individual of indiscipline, drunken brawling, rudeness towards the English public, claiming illness, he never played another first-class match.