Ron Smith migrated to Australia from England in 1974 and took up playing with South Melbourne in the National Soccer League.
He switched to become VSF director of coaching and went on to become head coach at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Smith moved to Malaysia to coach Sabah and Johor between 1995-1999, before returning to Australia and becoming coach of Perth Glory in 2006.
Smith has since held technical positions in Australian football, and in 2020 was appointed Technical Consultant at Football Australia.