Leeds Rugby League Hall of Fame - Alan Smith

Born at Overton, near Wakefield, on 8th February 1944, and educated as luck would have it at two soccer-playing schools, Middlestown C.P. and Horbury Secondary Modern, Alan Smith's love for rugby was nurtured by visits to Fartown to watch Huddersfield post-war, with surely few better wingers than his hero, Mick Sullivan, to kindle the spark of schoolboy ambition.
He had eighteen months on the wing with Brookhouse Under 19s, as well as trials with Wakefield Trinity, Halifax and Leeds, before signing professional forms in 1962 with the Loiners and scoring four tries against Dewsbury on his Headingley debut.
Sadly, a fractured leg sustained only weeks later in an 'A' team match versus Featherstone Rovers sentenced him to the sidelines for four years, apart from the occasional stop-gap outing with the 1st team. In 1965 a projected move to Bramley fell through over a question of terms following a four-week trial.
His big chance with Leeds finally came in December 1966 when he was quick to score twice against Bramley at the beginning of the month and a couple more against Trinity on Boxing Day. He added a try at Fartown in his first Challenge Cup Semi-Final too and established himself as a right-wing regular in a team scaling peaks of matchless glory with free-flowing rugby that was breath-taking in conception and thrilling in execution.
Alan played in no less than twelve Finals during the next nine seasons and all that despite missing the 1969 Championship Final with a dislocated shoulder, the 1971 Wembley Final (leg injury sustained against Salford, and the 1973 Yorkshire Cup Final (knee injury). By April 1976, wear and tear had taken such a heavy toll that Alan contemplated retirement during the close season, before eventually deciding to soldier on.
Although he missed the 1976 Yorkshire Cup Final, as well as the Wembley victory over St Helens in 1978, and was limited to merely three appearances in 1981-82, by the time Mr Indestructible finally signed off with a try against Widnes at Headingley on 10th April 1983 he had collected another fine batch of distinguished service medals.
For all that try-scoring was his stock-in-trade, he was a tower of strength in defence, specialising in man-and-ball crash-tackles timed to perfection. As for his resource, in the Wembley Final in 1977, with Widnes in full cry and the Loiners in dire peril, he was racing back to the very line to retrieve a cunning kick from Elwell and fending off the challenge of Eckersley with morale-boosting composure.

[@Svain5]

Brilliant Loiner. Loved watching him play.

[@chymist66]

Great player remember watching him as a young kid.