Frederick Smith was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 footballer who played as a full back in the period prior to World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Football career

He was born in Buxton

Buxton

Buxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...

 and played League football for Stockport County

Stockport County F.C.

Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

 and Derby County

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

 before giving up playing full-time to concentrate on his job as a motor mechanic in Macclesfield

Macclesfield

Macclesfield is a market town within the unitary authority of Cheshire East, the county palatine of Chester, also known as the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the Macclesfield urban sub-area at the time of the 2001 census was 50,688...

.

In May 1913, he was recruited by Southern Football League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

, by when he was at the "veteran" stage of his career. He initially played for the reserve team, where he was appointed captain. His "clean cut, up-standing image" had a beneficial effect on the youngsters. Following three successive defeats in October 1913, he made his first-team debut in a 2–0 defeat at reading on 1 November, replacing Bert Lee

Bert Lee (footballer)

Ernest Albert "Bert" Lee was an English professional footballer who played in the 1902 FA Cup final for Southampton, and also made one appearance for England in 1904...

 at right-back. His "determination and speed" enabled him to retain his place for the next ten games, before giving way to Richard Brooks

Richard Brooks (footballer)

Richard Brooks was an English professional footballer who played as a full-back for various clubs in the early years of the 20th century.-Football career:...

in January. Smith made a further five appearances in the latter part of the season.

At the end of the season, he was struggling to retain full fitness and decided to retire to concentrate on his motor career and returned to Macclesfield.