On Saturday Bucklands Beach AFC celebrated with Josh Smith, his 100th first team game when they played Waitemata in NRFL Div 1 at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
Smith has been at the club since 2002 when, at the age of 6, he played for the Orcas and has continued on to play his whole football career at Bucklands Beach.
He has played in the top youth teams for the club and over the years won many ‘player of the year’ awards. Last season he was the club’s ‘Senior Men’s Player of the Year’.
A consistent goal scorer for the club, top goal scorer for the first team last season with 15 goals, he now finds himself tied for the top goal scorer in NRFL Div 1 with eight goals so far for the season.
Smith made his debut for the first team in 2014 when the team played AFF Div 1 and has been with the team since then.
They won the league that year and went on to win the Conference League in 2016.
They were runners-up in NRFL Div 2 2018 which gained them promotion to NRFL Div 1 for this year. It’s fair to say he’s seen a lot of success at Bucklands Beach.
Andy Pullar, the club President, said: “Fantastic achievement by an outstanding young man. Josh is an unassuming character off the field – on the field he is one of those players you should never take your eyes off.
“His pace and ability to make something from nothing makes him a constant threat. The club is super proud of Josh and look forward to the next 100 games.”
Though Smith didn’t score on Saturday, Bucklands Beach won the game 3-0 and moved into 3rd place on the table.
