Ross Smith (soccer)

Last updated
Ross Smith
Personal information
Full name Ross Graham Smith [1]
Date of birth (1980-11-04) 4 November 1980 (age 43) [1]
Place of birth Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) [1]
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Ebbsfleet United
Number 16
Youth career
1999–2002 Rhode Island Rams
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
Montrose
2004–2005 Margate
2005–2007 Ebbsfleet United 80 (6)
2007–2008 Dagenham & Redbridge 23 (1)
2008 Rochester Rhinos 15 (2)
2009 Colorado Rapids 0 (0)
2009 Ebbsfleet United
2010 Portland Timbers 16 (1)
2011 Portland Timbers U23s 1 (0)
2012–13 Ebbsfleet United 13 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of May 7, 2011

Ross Smith (born November 4, 1980) is a former Canadian soccer player and current broadcaster for the Portland Timbers, one of his former teams. [2] Smith last played for Conference National side Ebbsfleet United.

Contents

Career

Youth and college

Smith attended E.C. Drury High School in Milton, Ontario, Perth High School, and played college soccer at the University of Rhode Island. He was named to the Verizon Academic all-District One team, earned third-team All-New England honors, and was also a first-team all-Atlantic 10 performer as a junior in 2001.

Professional

Smith moved across to the UK where he played with Montrose. Smith signed for Kent based Margate, playing a season there before being spotted and moving on to Gravesend & Northfleet playing in the English Conference National.

At the end of the 2006–07 season, Smith was out of contract and was considering a new contract offer from Ebbsfleet United and also interest from Stevenage Borough, when he had an offer to join Dagenham & Redbridge in League Two, who he eventually signed for in the summer of 2007.

Smith signed with the Rochester Rhinos of the USL First Division on June 18, 2008. He was reported not be eligible to play with the club until July 15, but was cleared by the authorities for his USL debut July 5, 2008, against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. [3] [4]

On February 27, 2009, it was revealed that Smith's doctors detected a faulty heart valve which caused him to suffer an enlarging of his aorta, and as a result would require heart surgery, and would likely miss the entire 2009 USL1 season. [5]

Smith signed for the Colorado Rapids of the MLS in January 2009, however the contract was terminated once doctors detected a problem with his heart, and he was forced to retire. [6] Smith re-signed for Ebbsfleet United (previously known as Gravesend & Northfleet) in November 2009, after having surgery and being told by doctors it was safe to play again. [6] In December, he said he was planning to leave Ebbsfleet to return to the United States. [7]

On February 15, 2010, Smith signed with Portland Timbers. [8] Following the season, and with the Timbers move to Major League Soccer, Smith ended his playing career, and on March 10, 2011 he was named as a radio analyst for Timbers home matches. On January 27, 2012, Smith resumed his playing career and signed with Ebbsfleet United for a third spell with the Kent club. That ended in 2013 and since then he has been a TV analyst for all Timbers matches broadcast locally.

Personal life

Although born in Canada, both Smith's parents are Scottish-born giving him dual British and Canadian citizenship.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northfleet</span> Human settlement in England

Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsfleet International railway station on the High Speed 1 line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamil Walker</span> American soccer player

Jamil Walker is a retired American soccer forward and midfielder, who played professionally in Major League Soccer and the USL First Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Kreamalmeyer</span> American soccer player

Luke Kreamalmeyer is a professional American soccer player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quavas Kirk</span> American soccer player

Quavas Kirk is an American soccer player who currently plays for Schwaben AC in the Metropolitan Soccer League, a USASA 6th-level league.

David Hayes is an American soccer player who most recently played for FC Tampa Bay in the North American Soccer League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Lilley (soccer)</span> American soccer coach (born 1966)

Robert "Bob" Lilley is an American soccer coach who is the head coach of USL Championship club Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. He has managed the Hershey Wildcats, Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps, Detroit Ignition, and Rochester Rhinos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Heins</span> American soccer player

Ryan Heins is an American retired soccer player.

Noah Delgado is a former professional soccer player who is currently head coach for USL Championship club Oakland Roots SC. He is a member of the El Salvador National Team Gold Cup staff and 2020 World Cup Qualifying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Gregor</span> American soccer player

Andrew Gregor is a retired American soccer midfielder who played professionally in Major League Soccer, the USL First Division, the USL Premier Development League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He is now the assistant head coach of Portland Timbers 2 in the United Soccer League.

Neil Dombrowski is an American soccer player, who last played for the Portland Timbers of the USL First Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Reynolds</span> American soccer player

Sam Reynolds is a former American professional soccer player, now a player liaison for PROficient Agency, representing professional soccer players, primarily in the United States and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenney Bertz</span> American soccer player

Kenney Bertz is an American former soccer player. He spent the majority of his professional career in the United States with the Rochester Rhinos in the USL First Division.

The 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 96th edition of the USSF's annual national soccer championship, running from June through early September.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USSF Division 2 Professional League</span> Soccer league

The USSF Division 2 Professional League was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL). The D2 Pro League was the second tier of the United States soccer league system below Major League Soccer. The league also included two clubs from Canada and one club from Puerto Rico.

The 2009 Portland Timbers season was the ninth season for the club in the United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the United States soccer pyramid. The first competitive game of the 2009 season was played on April 25 at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, BC versus Vancouver Whitecaps FC which the Timbers lost 1–0. Following that loss the Timbers went on a 24-game unbeaten streak in the league on their way to securing the Commissioner's Cup for finishing the regular season atop the table. In a hard-fought, two-legged series, Vancouver Whitecaps FC knocked Portland out of the playoffs in the semifinals by an aggregate score of 5–4. In the U.S. Open Cup the Timbers hosted Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer in the third round but were eliminated by their bitter rivals 2–1 in front of 16,382 spectators at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddie Braun</span> American soccer player

Freddie Braun is an American soccer player who currently plays for FC Mulhouse Portland in the National Premier Soccer League.

The 2008 Portland Timbers season was the 8th season for the Portland Timbers—the third incarnation of a club to bear the Portland Timbers name—of the now-defunct USL First Division, the second-tier league of the United States and Canada at the time.

The 2005 Portland Timbers season was the 5th season for the Portland Timbers—the 3rd incarnation of a club to bear the Timbers name—of the now-defunct USL First Division, the second-tier league of the United States and Canada at the time.

Lance Rozeboom is an American soccer player.

Christian Volesky is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN   978-1-84596-324-8.
  2. Arnold, Geoffrey (11 March 2011). "Portland Timbers announce broadcast crews". The Oregonian.
  3. "Rhinos sign Smith for defense" . Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  4. "Smith looks strong in Rochester Rhinos debut".
  5. "Archived copy". www.democratandchronicle.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. 1 2 "Fleet re-sign heart op man Smith". BBC Sport. 12 November 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  7. "Ebbsfleet defender Ross Smith looking for American move". BBC Sport. 4 December 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  8. [ dead link ]