G. O. Smith - Playing Style

Playing Style

G.O. Smith was renowned throughout his playing career for his exceptional balance and timing, and was further noted for his close control of the ball.

Unlike the majority of centre-forwards of the day, Smith also excelled at passing. "He was," his obituary in The Times contended, "a maker rather than a scorer of goals," and the skill that, more than any other, set him apart from his contemporaries was his ability to draw defenders around him and then slide an accurate pass to an unmarked team-mate well positioned to score. Steve Bloomer, Smith's professional colleague in several international matches, remarked that it was for this reason that he would rather play alongside Smith than any other centre-forward. The Dictionary of National Biography contends that he "transformed the role of the centre-forward from that of an individual striker into a unifier of the forward line, indeed the whole team."

Physically, Smith seemed unprepossessing. Though standing nearly 5 feet 11 inches, a good height for the day, he was of slight build, suffered from asthma and lacked the obvious brawn that had characterised predecessors in the England team such as W.N. "Nuts" Cobbold in a period in which body-checking and other rough tactics were considered fair play. He was also noted for his reluctance to head the ball, stating that he would be happy to see the practice banned. "G.O." atoned for these deficiencies by positioning himself intelligently and by shooting accurately, and - so his obituary observed - "invariably low", though opponents testified that he was also "hard as a whipcord" and by no means easy to shake off the ball.