The World’s First Football Superstar - The Life of Stephen Smith written
by Owen Arthur and published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback -
Pages 296
Buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of the small village of Benson in
Oxfordshire lies the body of a footballing world champion from a bygone era
shrouded in the mists of time. His name was Stephen Smith. This footballer of
the Victorian and Edwardian era could claim as many league title winning medals
as John Terry and Wayne Rooney, more league winners medals than Eric Cantona,
Frank Lampard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.
This book is the never before told story of a footballer born at the end of the Industrial Revolution, son of agricultural labourers who became a miner, working underground combining that job with one as a professional footballer to rise to the top of the footballing world. Smith won trophy after trophy in the best and only professional league anywhere in the world at that time. He also scored the goal that made England World Champions in 1895.
Smith, at the top of his game in a move that mirrored the Premier League breakaway of 1992 and the recent ill-fated European Super League then joined the newly formed Southern League at a time when the Football League started to cap player wages. He did this in order to ensure his family’s future as well as end his reliance on his part-time earnings from mining. Football’s zeitgeist has fundamentally changed very little in the last 130 years for those inside the industry.
This book is the story of Stephen Smith, England’s leading footballer at the turn of the 19th century, this man would have been the equivalent of the likes of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Having the world at his feet, he was playing at a number of clubs and England, winning a plethora of trophies. Pen & Sword Books always exposes my knowledge of sporting history because I think like many, very few will have heard of Stephen Smith. But his story is interesting to learn and if anything makes me wish we could have some more of him present today. A really good book and makes me think about how good football used to be.
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