Bernard Francis Smyth - New Zealand

liverpool annie · Nov 7, 2009

Bernard Francis Smyth b. 11 February 1891 in Boatmans d. 1 July 1972 in Christchurch

Bernard Smyth's feat in making the All Blacks has constantly baffled the game's historians and statisticians and must have been as much a mystery to his contemporaries.

A hooker in the 2-3-2 scrum, Smyth, always known as Frank after his second given name, Francis, played only one game at provincial level, appearing for Canterbury against Otago in 1915.

World War I was the major reason for the hiatus in his playing days. He served at Ypres, Passchendale and the Somme before being gassed and invalided into the army of occupation in Europe after the war. On his return journey he won an Allied Forces heavyweight boxing title. He re-emerged on the rugby scene in the 1922 season when at the age of 31 and straight from playing Christchurch club rugby with Marist he was picked for the South Island.

That led to his being chosen for the All Blacks' tour of Australia.

Smyth played the warmup match before the team's departure against Wairarapa in Carterton scoring a try in the 12-11 win.

In Australia he played in only one of the five matches in that country, the second against the Metropolitan XV in Sydney. The team returned for two games in New Zealand, against Wellington-Manawatu in Palmerston North and New Zealand Maori in Wellington. Smyth appeared in the game against Wellington-Manawatu.

Those three All Black appearances, his game for the South Island and his sole 1915 outing for Canterbury were the only matches Smyth ever played in first class rugby. He was chosen to play for Canterbury on return from the 1922 tour but was unavailable.

His Marist club, winners of the senior competition, late in the 1923 season became involved in a bitter dispute with the Canterbury union over the eligibility of some players for a Payne Trophy match against the Dunedin club champions. This led to the Marist club defecting en masse to rugby league in 1924 and the rest of Smyth's football was played in this code.

Frank Smyth later represented Canterbury at golf and was a competent cricketer.

Family members have questioned his recorded date of birth, 11 February 1891, believing he may have been born in 1885 or 1986. This would have made him 30/31 years of age when he played for Canterbury and about 36 when he represented New Zealand
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Lindsay Knight

liverpool annie · Nov 16, 2009

Frank is on the WW1 database ........

FULL NAME - Frank Smyth
FORENAME(S) - Frank
SURNAME - Smyth
WAR - World War I, 1914-1918
SERIAL NO. - 4/2138
FIRST KNOWN RANK - Sapper
OCCUPATION BEFORE ENLISTMENT - Bricklayer
NEXT OF KIN - Mrs Winifred Smyth (mother), 448 Durham Street, Christchurch, New Zealand
BODY ON EMBARKATION - New Zealand Expeditionary Force
EMBARKATION UNIT - 11th Reinforcements New Zealand Field Engineers, No. 2 Field Company
EMBARKATION DATE - 1 April 1916
PLACE OF EMBARKATION - Wellington, New Zealand
TRANSPORT - HMNZT 49 HMNZT 50
VESSEL - Maunganui or Tahiti
DESTINATION - Suez, Egypt
NOMINAL ROLL NUMBER - 28
PAGE ON NOMINAL ROLL - 26
SOURCES USED - Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington

liverpool annie · Nov 16, 2009

His service records are in the archives but they are not digitised yet !

http://archway.archives.govt.nz/

Annie

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