In November 1872, the first officially recognised football international was arranged between Scotland and England; unlike the earlier representative matches, all of which had been played at the Kennington Oval in London, this match was played at West of Scotland Cricket Club's ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Glasgow. The match was organised by the Queen's Park club (the Scottish Football Association was not founded until the following year), who decided that only Queen's Park members should be selected. Smith started the match as one of six forwards, but at some point in the match, probably at half-time, he switched positions with Robert Gardner, and played the remainder of the match in goal.