Jeff Smith was born at Darlington, NSW in 1897. Th locality is an inner Sydney suburb between Redfern and Newtown. Jeff grew up in the district and most likely learned his early rugby league playing in the strong Newtown competition.
No information has been found on Jeff’s early career for two reasons. Firstly there was only sporadic reports on lower grade games and secondly with a surname of Smith he is not easily identifiable.
The earliest record found was when he enlisted in the First World War in July 1918. At that time he was living with his parents at Lennox St Newtown. If he was playing rugby league at that time it would have been with the Newtown club.
However, that soon changed and Jeff Smith spent most of his life in Sydney’s western suburbs and had a long association with Wests.
