Rory Smith

Rory is a forward thinking player who has played in a variety of roles across the front three, and as an attacking midfielder, but favours the centre forward role.

Rory was born in Canterbury and grew up around Sandwich.

Rory’s youth career started at Betteshanger at seven before he was picked up by Gillingham for their under 11s team. He remained at Priestfield into his early teens and concluded his youth career at Dover Athletic before moving into the senior team at Ramsgate.

While at Ramsgate he was approached by Aberdeen with a view for making a permanent move and to sign professional terms. He trained with the Scottish Premiership side before he opted to remain with the Rams.

Rory spent five years in total at Ramsgate with a gap year in between when he moved to Australia and played as the sole overseas player for Redlands United in the Queensland Premier League. Unable to play a full season in Australia as the season was suspended due to Covid, in 2021 Rory moved back home and was signed by Herne Bay. In his first season at the club, he featured in Herne Bay’s playoff final win against Ashford, taking the Bay into step 3 for the first time in their history.

After an original loan spell to Deal in 2022 he made the move permanent ahead of the 2023/24 season.

Before his move to Deal, Rory already had strong connections with the club. His cousins, Ben and Tom Chapman and his brother Alex were already at Deal, he also knew Kingy and Natalie. Rory said “I had heard great things about the club, and it was clear that all roads were leading to Deal. I didn’t take a lot of convincing at all.”

In his first full season at the club Rory helped Deal win the SCEFL league title.