Fred Goldsmith
1951-1959
119 games
107 goals
Brownlow Medal 1955
Leading Goalkicker 1957
Swans Team of the Century

As a boy, Fred Goldsmith would ride his bike from Spotswood to watch the Williamstown VFA team train. One night, former Carlton champion Harry ‘Soapy’ Vallence spotted the youngster and asked him if he had a football. When Goldsmith replied “no”, Vallence told him to park behind the goals when he was practising his set shots. Sure enough, a footy sailed over the fence; Goldsmith grabbed it and took off for home.

Goldsmith loved the game. He began playing with his local club, Spotswood and kicked 140 goals for the Under-18 team. One afternoon, the South Melbourne secretary pulled up on his street to ask where another young prospect, Bill Gunn, lived. Goldsmith was his best mate, so he jumped in the car to show them. When they asked Gunn to play for South, he said, “If my mate over there signs, I’m in.”

The events of that fortuitous afternoon spawned the careers of two Swans Hall of Famers, although Goldsmith initially struggled to break into the senior team as a half-forward. During childhood, he lived next door to Charlie Sutton, who later played with Footscray. In Goldsmith’s fifth match, the pair held a friendly pre-game discussion. At the first bounce, Sutton laid him out, and Goldsmith received a brutal introduction to League football.

After eight games in two years, Goldsmith filed a clearance request to join Yarraville. At the time, Bloods Legend Herbie J. Matthews coached the Swans’ reserves and suggested he stay but try a positional switch to full-back. Matthews believed in Goldsmith’s marking and kicking ability, but he wasn’t finding enough of the ball.

During that 1953 pre-season, Goldsmith sought individual coaching sessions with Bloods Champion Laurie Nash and attended regular night classes at a physical culture school to improve his physique.

In The Record, football writer ‘Wingster’ said, “Goldsmith possesses an enormous pair of hands. He is a spectacular mark and a powerful kick. Goldsmith will so impress selectors in the practice matches that he will walk into South’s side for the opening game and stay there.”

Most likely due to his new role and his cricket commitments – that summer, Goldsmith was vice-captain of Victoria’s ‘junior’ team, taking 21 wickets at an average of five – he played his first game for the season in Round 7. From full-back he dominated proceedings, earning best-on-ground honours, and never looked back.

Early in the 1954 season, Goldsmith’s supreme form captured the attention of many. In The Record, an article titled ‘Vic’s Future Full-back?’ claimed that “Since he took over the custodianship in mid-season of last year, ‘Goldie’ has shaped like a champion. He has keen judgment, sticks closely to his man, is a fine high mark and a splendid drop-kick – all the attributes essential in a first-class full-back.”

In one match late in the season, against Collingwood at Victoria Park, Goldsmith’s game was hailed by ‘Wingster’ as one of the four most unforgettable performances by a South player. He repelled the Pies all day in a superhuman effort that prompted Swans supporters to carry their hero shoulder-high, the length of the ground.

Ahead of the 1955 season, Bill Gunn was named captain of the South Melbourne Football Club. Since being recruited together, the pair had been inseparable, and during a time of on-field hardship, they inspired each other.

After a superb season, Goldsmith finished third in The Sporting Globe’s Player of the Year award. He harboured no expectation of polling well in the Brownlow Medal count, though, so he took to his shift at the Eastern Hill Fire Station as usual. Goldsmith and a colleague were happily engaged in a snooker game when the intercom buzzed: “Fireman Goldsmith to the watchroom please.”

Goldsmith took a call from 3AW broadcaster Norman Banks, who told him he was leading the Brownlow count, and he’d better start tuning in. The count was held 200 metres away in Spring Street, and soon, the media crowd camped outside his workplace.

No full-back had ever won the award, and when Goldsmith prevailed by a solitary vote over Essendon’s Bill Hutchison, the firehouse erupted. “Fred is a fine chap, and he thoroughly deserves the honour,” Hutchison said later.

Just as popular with his workmates as his teammates, Goldsmith asked his chief officer for permission to leave early, which was duly granted. “The media followed me all the way home. Mum was outside waiting in the street in her nightie—she was that excited,” Goldsmith recalled.

After celebrating with family and friends in Williamstown, South’s third Brownlow Medallist went to the Lake Oval, where his teammates had gathered, enjoying two barrels of beer donated by the club. Soon after, the firefighters joined. Bob Skilton said, “Goldie was always the life of the party.”

Now a household name, Goldsmith played full-back for Victoria at the 1956 National Carnival, where he claimed the Simpson Medal as the best player of the championships. From 1956-1958, Goldsmith represented Victoria 10 times, once playing full-forward against Western Australia.

Curiously, having won the game’s highest honour as a defender, South coach Herbie J. Matthews – who suggested Goldsmith switch to full-back three years prior – experimented with Goldsmith at both ends of the ground. In 1956, he kicked 16 goals. The following season, he played predominantly in the forward line. “After I won the Brownlow Medal in 1955, I never played any more games at full-back – they tried to make me a forward again!” Goldsmith exclaimed.

With some success, it must be said. In Round 3, 1957, Goldsmith kicked nine goals in a 43-point win over Richmond at the Lake Oval. The Age reported, “A scintillating display at full-forward by 1955 Brownlow Medallist Fred Goldsmith meant the difference between victory and defeat. Goldsmith lifted what was a hesitant, lumbering group of individuals in the first 15 minutes into a confident, aggressive striking force.”

Goldsmith claimed the club’s leading goalkicker award in 1957 with 43 goals. In 1959, Goldsmith, just 27 years old, played his final match for South Melbourne, taking up the role of captain-coach at the Albury Football Club, where he remained until 1965 before finishing his career with Port Melbourne in 1966.

Former teammate and fellow Brownlow Medallist Bob Skilton paid tribute to Goldsmith after the champion former full-back passed away in 2017 at 84. “He was an excellent mark. The best way to describe him was that he was a real down-to-earth team man. The minute the game was over, he loved everyone around him, loved his teammates and opponents.”

One of Goldsmith’s most treasured possessions was an iconic photo taken with South’s remaining Brownlow Medallists in 2009. He loved football’s most glamorous night, only missing the Brownlow countonce, when too ill to attend, in the final year of his life.