Ben Smith

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Southern United
21 Nov 2026
Saturday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 4 Transfers Relations Events 39 Awards 1 Matches History

Marked for Ben Smith

16 Edition

The Southern United Herald

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad16 Nov 2026

Monty De Vries damages knee ligaments — 16 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad16 Nov 2026

Chris Tuiloma stands alone

11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match14 Nov 2026

Chastening afternoon for Southern United

A 2‑7 beating by Hawke's Bay United was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market16 Nov 2026

Tim Van Hattum puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Southern United, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match14 Nov 2026

4 matches without a win for Southern United

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Southern United are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings16 Nov 2026

A hand in 2 of them from Ben Smith — 7.52

Marked 7.52. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.

Squad16 Nov 2026

Words exchanged at Southern United

Monty De Vries and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match14 Nov 2026

James Lockyer among the goals in a wild afternoon

9 goals in one match, James Lockyer on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Southern United and Hawke's Bay United.

Player ratings16 Nov 2026

Nobody could get near Chris Smith

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

Back issues
15 Edition

The Southern United Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad9 Nov 2026

Monty De Vries damages knee ligaments — 23 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market9 Nov 2026

Monty De Vries asks to leave Southern United

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market9 Nov 2026

Michael Smith has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Southern United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad9 Nov 2026

A falling-out at Southern United

Monty De Vries and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match7 Nov 2026

Southern United come up short against Team Wellington

Team Wellington left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Words at Southern United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jai Payne is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Jai Colvey signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jai Colvey and Southern United agree another 3 years.

The dugout9 Nov 2026

Alex Nelson: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Looking ahead9 Nov 2026

The leaders are next for Southern United

Hawke's Bay United top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

In brief

10 Edition

The Southern United Herald

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad5 Oct 2026

A knee injury of the worst kind for Monty De Vries

58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Southern United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market5 Oct 2026

Francis Fenton asks to leave Southern United

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad5 Oct 2026

The step up is real for Ben Smith

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Monty De Vries in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Late improvement for Liberato Sutton

At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market5 Oct 2026

Southern United put Marco Colvey up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Marco Colvey may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

6 Edition

The Southern United Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad7 Sep 2026

The knee: Monty De Vries out for 86 days

86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Southern United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market7 Sep 2026

The Team Wellington deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Michael Smith reports back to Southern United with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Market7 Sep 2026

WaiBOP United come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Southern United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market7 Sep 2026

Marco Colvey asks to leave Southern United

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Boardroom7 Sep 2026

Southern United close the window on a squad of their own making

0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Ben Smith is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad7 Sep 2026

A row about effort at Southern United

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Lockyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad7 Sep 2026

A falling-out at Southern United

Tim Van Hattum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market7 Sep 2026

Talks stall between Southern United and Michael Smith

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

In brief