Sad news of death of London Saints stalwart member – DAVE (OLD SMUDGER) SMITH 1942 to 2025

Posted on April 25, 2025 by John Smith

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Dave Smudger Smith in the early hours of Tuesday April 15^th at his care home in Seven Sisters. LSSC’s esteemed Sports and Social Secretary Ray Betts and I were due to meet him that evening to give him a new DAB radio that some of his friends had clubbed together to buy him so Dave could listen to one of his loves, cricket, during the day.

So we say farewell to one of London Saints’ legends, a lovely genial man who, I doubt, anyone had a bad word for, a man with a loving character and one who will be sadly missed by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him. As well as being a really interesting character, who liked his beer, his books and chess, Dave had a face that no one could forget, striking a resemblance to Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses and of course Father Christmas and it was lovely seeing kids when were at football taking a 2^nd and 3^rd look at Dave and wondering, is he? He was also mistaken as Papa Noel on a Spanish beach once by a group of kids.

There is one man to thank for bringing Dave into the London Saints fold and that is Ray (or Reg as some of you better know him) and now he takes up the story – over to you Ray:-

I first met Dave in the early 1980’s when Tim Martin opened his 2nd Wetherspoons pub at the top of our road in Hornsey. The infamous Dicks Bar was the meeting place for many of my lifelong friends and old Smudger was definitely my favourite.

Dave was born in Ohio, USA back in 1942 and for some reason decided to emigrate to good old England in around 1962 where he settled down with his wife Mave and son Conor. He earned his living as a self-employed builder and was well known locally as North London’s slowest ever builder!! He was once caught out on the job by Tottenham Ken who returned home from a two-week holiday expecting to find his new kitchen extension all completed, only to find the job still half done with Dave sitting in a deckchair in the blazing summer sun in his garden watching the England – Australia test match. Once he eventually got the job done, he was a bloody good builder though.

Apart from his family, Dave had two great loves in his life, English cricket and football – The Saints of course. I first introduced him to the Saints in around 1982 after a conversation on a Friday night in Dicks Bar where Dave said he had never been to a football match. I said to Dave I would take him to the Dell to which he replied “You’re like all the other arseholes in here, everyone promises to take me to a match (Arsenal/Spurs/Chelsea etc) but it’s all bullshit” I said to him “OK mate, you be outside my house at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, I’ve got a spare ticket and you’re going to your first match”. He duly turned up and the rest of it is history as they say. The only problem was, as well as having my two kids, Terry & Martin, I now had an overgrown kid to look after!

That was the start of a beautiful friendship between the two of them and Dave’s association with The London Saints over 40+ years. Some of Smudge’s stories will be forever legendary in London Saints history. There are so many to choose from, these are just a few:-

• After drinking several 9.5% beers before and after an away win in Leicester, he commented on the way back to the station on how much Norwich had changed since he was last there!
• With his love of cricket, Dave was persuaded on our cricket tour to Sri Lanka to umpire for us which he duly did in a purple sarong, black socks and sandals. The next year he won the cricket clubs Champagne Moment Trophy whilst umpiring and calling out “No ball….Over” and walking off to square leg – we bought him a book the following season on the rules of umpiring!
• After taking some ‘advice’ from his best mate on how to umpire a cricket match whilst we were on tour in Somerset, he decided to give every third appeal as out. This resulted in the team being bowled out relatively cheaply in almost record time. When quizzed about his decisions, Smudge said “Hey Man (in his US twang), Ray told me to do it” – You don’t want to know what expletives left DT’s mouth when Reg turned up later!!
• One Boxing Day on Match of the Day, the cameras zoomed in on Dave in the crowd and Gary Lineker said “Well kids, now the Christmas rush is over you now know how Father Christmas unwinds, he’s a Saints fan”.

Just some of the many moments that we could have chosen and I sure those that met him will have their own special moments.

Our thoughts at this sad time are with Dave’s family, son and daughter-in-law Conor and Angie, granddaughters Amy and Nellie and grandson Max.

We will keep everyone informed on the funeral arrangements as soon as they are confirmed.

RIP Smudge, sadly missed but never forgotten.

Ray and Dave