A Tiger of old remembered by former teammates
Christian Catalano
The Age
September 26, 2006
TERRY Smith may not be the first name that registers when Richmond fans think of the club's last premiership team in 1980. But to friends, former teammates and even old foes, there will never be a more accurate embodiment of what they love about the game.
As former Richmond teammate Neil Ross told mourners at the east Kew memorial service yesterday, "football club cultures are built around people like Terry Smith".
"We all go to the footy to watch the superstars, but premierships are built around people like Terry."
Smith, who grew up in the Victorian town of Tyntynder near Swan Hill, played 56 games for Richmond in the early 1980s and a further 44 for St Kilda. His hard-nut defending earned him the nickname "Brutus", but it was his larrikin nature, his love for a drink and his ability to befriend almost everyone he met that won him most renown.
"He was just one of those blokes people liked to be around and liked to have a beer with," said Richmond teammate and close friend Michael Roach.
"He had no enemies. I think it was his honesty and never saying a bad word against anybody that made him so popular."
Around 300 people gathered to farewell Smith, who died of cancer last week aged 47. At least one hundred more were forced to watch from outside. Among the better known faces in a crowd unmistakeable for the tall, broad-shouldered frames of former footballers were past teammates Mick Malthouse, David Cloke and Kevin Bartlett, as well as current Richmond coach Terry Wallace.
Premiership teammates Roach, Dale Weightman and his closest Tiger's friend Jimmy Jess helped to carry Smith's coffin away from the church.
The football community's response to Smith's battle with illness was moving, with a group of around 200 honouring him at a function last month.
Several former teammates had helped to arrange his medical treatment and his living arrangements — Roach, Weightman and Jess in fact broke into Smith's home while he was in hospital to repaint the walls, lay new carpet and put in new furniture and an entertainment system.
"He wasn't broke, but he didn't have anybody really apart from (sister) Mandy to look after him," said Roach. "Because we loved him so much we thought 'Bugger this, we're not going to see him stay in hospital being crook'. We wanted to have him home and have him cared for by his mates."
Roach noted that Smith was also the first of the 1980 Richmond premiership team to pass away.
"We are still a close group," he said. "Seventeen of our premiership players turned out to that small function we had for Terry last month.
"That's testament to how important he was to us."
There was also much support from the Clayton, Oakleigh suburban football clubs, where Smith either captained, coached or played in six more premiership-winning sides after his days at the elite level were over.
Dozens of others left tributes to Smith in yesterday's newspaper classified pages.
One former Clayton footy club colleague describes how the former coach asked his players to complete a training session "in the nude with full contact and drills" the morning after celebrating a grand final win.
"Yep, that's typical Terry," Roach said yesterday.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/09/25/1159036472742.html
