Family, sport and farming were his loves
THERE was much to admire and like about Ian ‘‘Spooky’’ Smith.
A ready and dry wit, a talented and skilful rugby player, a sound and able farmer, a man of principle and honour, and most of all a loving father and grandfather.
The former All Black died in September, aged 76.
Ian Stanley Talbot Smith played for Otago, North Otago and Southland, and also played 24 matches for the All Blacks, including nine tests.
He was a strongly built, quick, outside back, who had the ability to make something out of nothing.
He played in very good All Black sides in the 1960s with greats of the game such as Wilson Whineray, Colin Meads and Kel Tremain.
Former All Black halfback Chris Laidlaw said Smith was good company who was a key player both on and off the field.
‘‘He was a fun guy with a highly developed sense of humour. He had a real sense of irony,’’ Laidlaw said.
‘‘Before every test match he used to sing that Rolling Stones song — This Could Be The Last Time — in the dressing room. That was the sort of fatalistic approach that he took.
‘‘But he was a gregarious character. A great guy to be on tour with. I remember going out the night before we played games and having a gin and tonic or two with him. Some sort of hydration training I suppose, a form of performance dimensioning drug.’’
Smith enjoyed touring.
When he went to Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen, she said to him she had never been to Gimmerburn, where Smith hailed from.
He replied that he had never been to Buckingham Palace either.
Smith first played rugby for Otago in 1961. In those years, Smith played mainly in the midfield and he was part of the South Island team which beat the North Island in an upset in 1963.
In the final trial for the All Black tour to the United Kingdom and France, Smith was placed on the wing and scored two tries to seal his place.
He did not appear in any of the tests on tour but scored eight tries in 15 matches.
He made his test debut against the Wallabies in 1964. The following year he played three tests against the Springboks, being dropped for the third test, but returned for the final test at Eden Park, in which he scored two tries.
The British Lions arrived the following year and Smith played in the first three tests before being replaced by Malcolm Dick in the final test.
This was to be his last test. He attended the trials for the 1967 All Black tour of the northern hemisphere but his team was thrashed 370 which did not help his chances.
Smith was always very keen on sport from a young age but was also interested in farming.
He was born in Dunedin on August 20, 1941, to George and Noelie Smith. He was the oldest of three children with his two sisters coming along later.
The family moved to Timaru when he was a toddler, as his father was sent away to help in the war effort and Ian started helping out on the farm, despite his young years.
It was here that he first discovered his love of agriculture.
After the war, the family returned to Dunedin and grew up in St Clair. He was into everything and learnt highland dancing, the piano, became a scout and was a member of the St Clair surf lifesaving team.
He attended King’s High School but was suspended from the school when caught drinking. He held a grudge against the school and did not have anything to do with the institution for the rest of his life.
Upon leaving school, Smith went to university and studied some commerce papers and played for the Pirates club.
But he wanted to go farming. One Sunday at Hancock Park, Gerald Clarke, who coached Gimmerburn in the Maniototo, had his father, Paul, approach Smith about moving to Gimmerburn for a job on the family farm.
It was a short job interview — ‘‘Gerald’s got a job for you up there. You want to go farming?’’
Smith said yes and within a week he was playing for Gimmerburn and working at Closeburn Station.
The work on the farm helped his rugby — his first job was cutting the lucerne, all 16,000 bales of it.
Smith trained hard and was picked for the Otago Country team and then made the Otago team in 1961. He often said going to Gimmerburn was the making of his rugby career as he got fitter and stronger.
When in the Otago team, he was joined by his namesake. So there was an Ian S.T. Smith and Ian D. Smith. Both were backs and both played for Gimmerburn.
Dental student Ross Parkes pointed out the team could not have two players with the same name in the team, so he decided Ian Stanley Talbot Smith was a spooky looking character so he should be called Ian ‘‘Spooky’’ Smith.
The name stuck and the Gimmerburn Ghost, another popular nickname for Smith, was a natural next step.
Around this time, Smith met Jenny Nicholls, a physical education student at the University of Otago. The two hit it off straight away and were married in Waipukurau in Hawke’s Bay in January 1965.
The newly married couple moved to Oamaru where he worked as a stock agent and Jenny worked as a physical education teacher at Waitaki Girls’ High School.
He became North Otago’s first All Black when he played against the Springboks. A couple of years later, the
Smiths moved to Southland where he played for the Southland team.
But the move to Southland was not solely for rugby reasons.
Smith had always had a dream to buy a piece of land and did that when moving to Southland, purchasing a small property at Myross Bush. He still worked as a stock agent in Southland as the family bloomed with the first of four sons arriving.
The family moved to another couple of properties in Southland as the farming experience grew.
Then, in 1980, the family upped sticks and moved to Peel Forest, in South Canterbury, to farm Houhere Park.
The following few years were not easy for the family. Government subsidies had been removed for farmers and interest rates rose quite dramatically.
Smith, who could always spot a bargain, came up with a scheme of bringing in sheep from all round the country, fattening them up and selling them at a profit. Truckloads of sheep were brought in from different parts of the country and the whole family worked extremely hard.
The farm had a higher rainfall than most in the district so could fatten up animals quickly, which proved profitable.
Smith was also a keen supporter of live sheep shipments from Timaru.
The Smiths stayed at Peel Forest for more than 30 years, raising a family and being active in the community.
The couple moved north to Mapua, near Nelson, in 2012 and Smith’s wife, Jenny, died in 2015.
He continued to be an active part of the community until he died.
He is survived by his two sisters, Christine and Jacquetta, four sons Gareth, Hamish, Timothy and Matthew, and nine grandchildren.
— Steve Hepburn