Smith: Joseph Barry (Barry)

1951-1956 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: South Kirby, Nr Hemsworth: 15-03-1934

Debut v Fulham (h): 13-09-1952

5’10” 12st 3lb (1951)

He played for Shipley St Walburga’s School and Bradford Boys, Bradford United and the West Riding Youth team before joining Bradford Park Avenue’s ground staff. He played in their Northern Intermediate League side before moving to Farsley Celtic. Smith gave up his job as an apprentice plumber when he was signed as a seventeen-year-old by Leeds from the Farsley Club in October 1951. In the 1952-53 season, United had tried several strikers as they won only two of their first dozen games. Frank Fidler and Don Mills had both been tried at centre forward before Smith was given his chance as United achieved their second victory of the season in their seventh match and Smith scored on debut. The following week Ken Hastie was given his chance and he scored twice on debut, which earned him two more games before Smith was given his second chance in a 0-1 loss to Leicester at Elland Road. He never played again in the first team and United bought Albert Nightingale and switched John Charles to centre-forward to solve their scoring problems. He did his National Service with the Royal Artillery at Oswestry and this curbed his football career and restricted his training and playing time which saw him fail to gain the necessary experience and he was transferred to Bradford Park Avenue for a second time in May 1955. After thirty-eight goals in sixty-one League games in his two year spell with Park Avenue he was sold to Wrexham in June 1957, where he scored ten goals in eighteen League appearances. While he had maintained a good scoring record in the lower Leagues, he tended to become a little nomadic after that. In July 1958, he moved to Stockport County, where he scored four times in seventeen League games, before leaving for Non-League Headington United in October 1959, where he scored twice in fourteen games. He played once for Oldham Athletic without scoring while on loan in August 1960 and went back to Non-League football when he joined Bangor City in December 1960. He came back to League football with Southport in August 1961 but soon moved on to Accrington Stanley in October 1961. He did not make the first team with either and retired during the 1961-62 season when Accrington dropped out of the League in mid-season. After football he returned to Bradford and ran an industrial equipment business. He died on a sailing holiday in New Zealand in February 2007.