The West Coast has produced many fine rugby players throughout its rich and vibrant past, including eight men who would go on to wear the famed All Black jersey while playing their club rugby on the West Coast when selected. The West Coast has also been the home for many others who would wear the silver fern while domiciled elsewhere around New Zealand and playing for other provinces when selected.

The Reefton area was the birthplace for two of West Coast's eight All Blacks, John Corbett (Reefton) of the 1905 side, and Sam Bligh (Blacks Point) from the 1910 team, but the area has also produced another All Black who was born and raised there as a child, that would also go on to play for Canterbury, the South Island team, as well as the All Blacks, in what can only really be described for many reasons as an astonishing career.

Bernard Francis 'Frank' Smyth, was born in Boatmans on February 11th, 1891, to his parents Bernard and Winifred Smyth, with Frank being the youngest of six children, having two brothers and three sisters.

Residing in Boatmans, Frank's father worked as a mining inspector, and while suffering from diabetes, would die in his mid-forties in January 1900, just before Frank's ninth birthday.

To make ends meet, Frank's mother opened a boarding house that housed miners. Amongst those who boarded there were Paddy Webb and Bob Semple, prominent early Labour figures who went on to become Cabinet Ministers in the first Labour Government.

Frank formed lifelong friendships with Webb and Semple, even though they were many years older than him. There is a famous story from the early 1940's when Frank was publican at the Royal Hotel in Leithfield, North Canterbury. Semple, as Minister of Works and Transport, was on his way north to open the new Waiau bridge.

His party stopped off at the Royal for a beer on the way, which became several, and the Ministerial party eventually turned up at the bridge site several hours later and a little worse for wear, a point carefully noted by the Press in its report of the event.

In in interesting footnote, it was only discovered in 2024, that Frank played for the Star Rugby Football Club in Greymouth, and had actually played two games for West Coast in 1912, with his debut against Otago that year. (This information will be added to his official record, on the All Blacks website.)

Frank's family would eventually move to Christchurch in 1913, where he'd play for the Marist Brothers Old Boys rugby club, where his rugby career could be described as eventful to say the least.

Such was his form at club level in the 1915 season, playing either as a wing forward or in a hooker position in a 2-3-2 style scrum, he'd be selected to play in Canterbury's second game of the season against Otago at Carisbrook in Dunedin.

Remarkably, this would be his one and only first-class game for Canterbury, as Smyth was called into action to serve his country in Europe during World War One, where he'd depart New Zealand's shores on April 1st, 1916, with the 11th Reinforcements New Zealand Field Engineers, No. 2 Field Company.

Smyth served for three and half years, with his first rank of that as a sapper, before being promoted to the rank of lance corporal, then sergeant. Smyth served at Ypres, Passchendaele and the Somme, and was mentioned in dispatches for distinguished and gallant service and devotion to duty during the period September 25th, 1917 to the 25th of February 1918.

Despite being gassed and invalided, he subsequently served in the army of occupation in Europe after the war, where he would develop a near life time relationship with his German billet family. The Mother he lived with had lost three sons at the Somme and they stayed in contact until her death in the 1960's.

Smyth was not only a fine rugby player, he was also a boxer of note, and while in Europe he took part in some professional boxing bouts, winning the Allied Services Heavyweight Championship title on the troopship Arawa while returning to New Zealand.

On returning back to Christchurch, he resumed playing club rugby for his Marist Brother Old Boys club in 1919, and was a member of the all conquering senior team that swept all before them for five seasons straight, being crowned champions from 1919 through to 1923, incredibly losing only four games in those five seasons.

Despite now being aged 31 years of age, and having not played first class rugby since his debut for Canterbury in 1915, Smyth was selected straight from club rugby into the 1922 South Island team to play the North Island side, alongside West Coast's winger, Jack Steel.

Although not being selected for Canterbury in the 1921 season, some Canterbury locals believed Smyth should’ve been in the Canterbury team that year that beat the touring Springboks, so selection in the 1922 South Island team would have been very pleasing to both himself, and his supporters.

The North v South match played at Eden Park in Auckland was a tight one, and was described as a "Great Battle in the Mud" by the Evening Post newspaper, with Jack Steel a try scorer in the South Island's 9-8 come from behind victory, after being down 8-0 at one stage.

The Waikato Independent stated that the unanimous verdict of the spectators was that it was "the greatest battle of forwards ever witnessed on an Auckland ground.''

With the All Blacks selectors in attendance, Smyth's impressive performance in the match earned him selection for the All Blacks eight match tour of New Zealand and Australia.

So, with only 4 first class games of rugby under his belt spanning a ten-year period, the Boatmans born Smyth would remarkably make his All Blacks debut at age 31, in the first game of the tour against Wairarapa in Carterton.

The match was also a first for West Coast's Jack Steel, as he captained the All Blacks for the first of two times during his All Black career.

Smyth would be a try scorer in the match, that would go down right to the wire, with the All Blacks only hitting the lead thanks to a 78th minute try to Jim Donald, clinching a desperate 12-11 victory. Incidentally, Jim Donald was a Wairarapa player and frequent captain of his province, so no doubt it would have been a day of mixed emotions for him.

After a falling out with All Blacks manager Stan Dean, Smyth would only play the one game on the Australian leg of the tour, against the Metropolitan Union side at the Sydney Showgrounds which was a 24-6 win to the All Blacks, while he'd again play in the All Blacks 45-11 win against a Manawatu-Wellington XV combined team at the Palmerston North Showgrounds, when the All Blacks returned to New Zealand to play the final two games of the tour.

These three matches would prove to be his only ones in the Black jersey, and incredibly, the final of his first-class career, one that spanned seven years, and just the five games, although post tour he was selected to play for Canterbury, but was unavailable to play.

In 1923, Smyth and his Marist Brothers Old Boys club would become involved in a massive controversy, one that incredibly would also have huge repercussions on this side of the Southern Alps.

A new trophy had been donated by Marist club member George Payne to be played annually by the club champions of Canterbury and Otago, so with Marist again winning the club competition, this earned them the right to play the Otago club championship winning side, University.

The match was set to be played at Lancaster Park, and with both teams in training, tickets were being sold and the excitement was building, but that was until accusations from the Otago Rugby Union, that the Marist side had selected players for the fixture that were 'ringers', that had not played for the club during the season.

One of which was a former Marist player who had moved back to Christchurch, and another who had transferred to Christchurch with his job as a policeman, with the Marist club successfully registering both players with the Canterbury R.F.U, despite the local club season having ended.

The Marist side claimed both players were required as they had players now unavailable through injury, and said they'd being sticking to their guns and not withdrawing their players, and as no rules for the trophy match had been drawn up, were adamant that as the C.R.F.U had registered them, they were well within their rights to select them to play.

There was a lot of back and forth between the Otago and Canterbury Rugby Unions, and the Canterbury Union then advised Marist, that they would back the stance of the Otago Rugby Union, informing Marist that as the two players had not played three games during the club season, they could not select the two players to play in the Payne Trophy match. The Marist club wrote to the C.R.F.U demanding that it be allowed to play the team it had selected, and "Failing the acceptance of this team, it was unanimously decided to refuse to play".

As a result of the Marist club's stance, the C.R.F.U then invited the Merivale R.F.C who were runners up to Marist for the championship, to play in the Payne Trophy match and the University club from Otago travelled up to Christchurch and played them instead, with the University club winning the encounter 27-3.

The C.R.F.U then demanded an apology from the Marist club for challenging the authority of the Union and suspended the club until one was forthcoming. The Marist club were incensed at the treatment they were given, and refused. Interventions from both the N.Z.R.F.U and Catholic Bishop of Christchurch failed to break the long-drawn-out impasse, and as a result the Marist Brothers Old Boys Club on April 4th, 1924, withdrew their membership from the Canterbury R.F.U, and the club as a whole, switched to become a rugby league club.

In an act of solidarity, the Greymouth Marist Old Boys rugby club did the same, and only after a massive effort from the N.Z.R.F.U and other provincial unions, dissuaded other Marist clubs from around the country from doing the same. This of course ended the rugby career of Smyth, and he played out his days in the Rugby League code, while also becoming involved in the clubs committee, and all of this despite having been asked to be available for the 1924 (Invincibles) All Black tour.

A Marist Rugby club was reformed in 1944, and Smyth would become involved again and through a long association with the club, would be honoured with a life membership of the club.

In Smyth's post Rugby days, he worked in the insurance industry, working initially as a travelling salesman, and then at the end of the 1920's as Christchurch manager of one of the leading insurance companies of the day.

At some point in the 1930's he left the insurance industry and became a publican in a number of Christchurch hotels, including the New Wellington that was in Tuam street, and the Royal Hotel in Leithfield. After that, he worked for many years as a storeman in Pyne Gould Guiness's Christchurch wool store, right through his sudden death in July 1972.

Though claiming availability to serve in WWII, Smyth went into a training camp, but his age was well beyond him and her never served in the conflict. Incredibly, Smyth was almost locked up for sedition, due to the fact he was proficient in German, a​nd was caught listening to German short-wave broadcasts while in camp.​ On his experiences in WWI, i​n his latter years he’d often say was that he was just very, very lucky, as so many other great men’s lives and opportunities on both sides were stolen by that horrendous, wasteful and pointless event.

In 1969, aged 78, Smyth broke his collarbone while visiting relatives in Gore. He did not realise it at the time, returning to work complaining of a sore shoulder. A few days later he set off to visit his sister Peg for the last time in Cobden. When the railcar stopped at Arthurs Pass, he got off to catch up with the station master whom he knew. While they were chatting the railcar pulled off, leaving him stranded.

The station master rang through to Otira to hold the railcar, but the only way they could get Smyth through to Otira in reasonable time was by hand jigger through the Otira tunnel. So Smyth, broken collarbone and all, set off with the station master pumping the hand jigger through to Otira.

Once he returned to Christchurch some days still grizzling about his shoulder, his daughter persuaded him to go to the doctor who quickly concluded his collarbone was broken, and was horrified to hear what he had been up to over the preceding couple of weeks, but thankfully he made a quick and full recovery.

Despite living in Christchurch the majority of his life, Smyth remained a West Coaster first and foremost, and would tell his grandchildren great stories of his time in the Boatmans mine and pig hunting in the hills behind, during his frequent trips back to Coast.

A proud West Coaster and Rugby man right to the very end of his life, the sport he loved was never far from his mind, and when his daughter and grandson found his body in the early hours of the morning on July 15th, 1972, fittingly they noticed that sitting prominently on the clothes he had laid out for the morning to follow, were his tickets to the North Island v South Island Rugby match, that was to be played in Christchurch that day at Lancaster Park.

West Coast born Bernard Francis 'Frank' Smyth, All Black number 257, was 81 when he passed, and now rests at the Memorial Park Cemetery, Bromley in Christchurch.

(I helped write and collate this story with the help of Frank's grandchildren, the Dunne Family, and I want to thank them for sharing with me some wonderful stories from a very proud West Coaster, who lived an amazing life.)