Norm Smith

For the award that is named in his honour, see Norm Smith Medal.
For the Hawthorn player, see Norm Smith (footballer, born 1946). For other people, see Norm Smith (disambiguation).

Norm Smith
Norm Smith playing for Melbourne, c. 1940s
Personal information
Nickname(s) The Red Fox
Date of birth (1915-11-21)21 November 1915
Place of birth Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia
Date of death 29 July 1973(1973-07-29) (aged 57)
Place of death Pascoe Vale, Victoria, Australia
Original team(s) Northcote juniors
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb)
Position(s) Full-forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1935–1948 Melbourne 210 (546)
1949–1950 Fitzroy 017 0(26)
Total 227 (572)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
1941–1945 Victoria 2 (9)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1949–1951 Fitzroy 055 00(30–23–2)
1952–1967 Melbourne 310 (197–108–5)
1969–1972 South Melbourne 087 00(26–61–0)
Total 452 (253–192–7)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1950.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 1945.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1972.
Career highlights

Player

Coach

  • 6× VFL premierships: 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1964
  • AFL Team of the Century (coach)
  • Melbourne Team of the Century (coach)

Overall

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Norman Walter Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with Melbourne and Fitzroy, Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, including a fifteen-year stint at Melbourne.

A Legend in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Smith is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential coaches in the game's history, as well as being one of the finest full-forwards of his era. Like legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale, Smith could take young players of different backgrounds and mould them into a disciplined team.[1] Along with his brother Len, Smith's ability to think innovatively when it came to tactics had a profound influence on the game, most notably through his protégé Ron Barassi.

Smith played in four premierships with Melbourne and then coached the club to six further premierships in the 1950s and 1960s, but his sensational sacking midway through the 1965 season (when Melbourne were the reigning premiers) gave rise to what is known as the "Curse of Norm Smith". The supposed curse lasted 57 years until Melbourne defeated the Western Bulldogs in the 2021 AFL Grand Final. In 1996, Smith was chosen as the coach of the AFL Team of the Century.[2]

  1. ^ Hess et al., 2008, p. 233
  2. ^ Burgan, Matt (19 July 2007). "Norm Smith – now officially a legend". Australian Football League. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2009.