For the millions of tributes paid to Pele after the football icon’s passing, few mourners were ever privileged enough to have spent time in his company – never mind change the laws of the game alongside one of the undisputed footballing greats.
Gordon Smith, however, is one of the lucky few to have met with Pele on multiple occasions and learned about the special person behind the highlight-reel player.
The former Rangers and Kilmarnock player is forever grateful to have spent time working alongside the Brazil legend having idolised him from a young age. In fact, Smith’s first real connection with Pele came when he was attending Stevenson High School and playing for the school team with pal Davie Patterson.
“When I was at school my friend Davie and I persuaded our school teacher, Mr. Proctor, to buy Brazilian shirts,” said Smith of the tale which he would later laugh with Pele about. “We were looking for a new strip, he bought them and we were the only school team playing in Brazil strips. It was because we were both massive fans of Pele.”
Smith was infatuated by Pele – the player - particularly after watching him lift the World Cup in 1970 but would later instead adore the person the triple World Cup winner was rather than solely his ability on the pitch.
The former Scottish FA chief executive couldn’t have scripted his first real interaction with Pele any better. Smith was running late to attend the first meeting of the FIFA Football Committee and quickly shuffled to the front row to take his place and listen to Franz Beckenbauer situated at the top table.
This was not daunting, having met the German football icon previously, but moments later and he would find himself flanked by a line-up of some of the greatest names in football. Such was the calibre of the names who would soon surround Smith, that he feared he wouldn’t make the best XI in the room.
“I was a bit late in getting there, I sat in the front row without looking at who was behind me,” revealed Smith of the unlikely build-up to his first encounter with Pele.
“When I went out for a coffee I sat down and Franz Beckenbauer came and sat beside me then across from me, I couldn’t believe it. Pele.
“Next to Pele was Eusebio, then Bobby Charlton, Michel Platini, Dino Zoff, Dragan Stojkovic. I was thinking: ‘Oh my God if there was a team getting picked here, I wouldn’t get in it’.
“I think I met him about three or four times. It was amazing to think the status of all these people. Although all the others were fantastic, Pele was unique in that respect, he was the best.
"The fact it was Pele was incredible for me because I was such a big fan and he was iconic to me. Every time I always spent a bit of time making sure I was talking to him about his career."
Smith had gone from wearing a Brazil kit as a schoolboy hopeful of a career in football to discussing Pele’s upbringing without boots until he was 12 years old and using socks rolled up as a makeshift football. And what always struck Smith about Pele, who amassed stardom at an early age for his Brazil heroics, was his humility.
“He was so modest about what he had achieved,” Smith explained. “He was a nice, friendly guy and so down to earth you wouldn’t believe it. He was very normal, he didn’t boast about anything.
“I loved the person as well as the player, he’s somebody that deserves every bit of recognition he is getting because he was a genius on and off the field.
“It’s definitely the person I remember first before the player, because of getting to meet someone like that and finding out that he was so nice and humble. And the fact was that I got to meet him – that’s a thrill when you actually get to meet somebody in your life who is one of your legends, one of your heroes, the biggest hero in the game. Then to have him chatting away to you about things, it’s incredible. He was a special person."
Pele’s impact on football was global and remains as present as ever even after his passing, but his work off the field alongside Smith was just as important. The Brazil icon helped implement the new FIFA ruling on own goals by seconding Smith’s recommendation that a goal be awarded to a player should the original shot be on target and then deflect in – and ruled an own goal should an effort off target be deflected into the net.
Smith recalled: “I put that forward as my recommendation. And what happened was Pele then stood up and said: ‘I just want to say I second what Gordon Smith said there. I second that’.
“Pele seconded that and that became the rule. The fact is he was the one who seconded it, it was my opinion and he seconded it for me. Maybe because he seconded it they put it through, but that is still the case.”
Scottish clubs are set to mark Pele’s passing with a minute’s remembrance at New Year fixtures. For Smith, it’s a fitting tribute, and he revealed his own family homage to Pele comes in the form of his four-year-old grandson, Edson.
“That’s what my daughter called him,” said Smith of his suggestion for the name in tribute to Pele.
“I told her afterward that it was actually Pele’s name. He’s going to be excited about it when he understands why his name is Edson.”
