Obituary: Phil Smithson

We regret to announce the death of Phil Smithson, age 71, former lead Coach of Bredakwai Judo Club and Coach/Manager of the North West Womens & Girls Squad who died unexpectedly yesterday on 24 Sept, at home, with his wife Eileen by his side.

Phil, an ex international competitor in his younger years, was given the responsibility of running Accrington’s Judo Club at the tender age of 16 and continued to run the judo club for the next 45+ years. During this time he met his beloved wife Eileen, a judoka herself, and between them they supported thousands of children, young people and adults through their various life challenges by the power of our wonderful sport of judo and their compassion and tutorage.

In 2018 Phil was recognised and awarded the Hyndburn Sports Awards lifetime achievement award recognising his stellar work for supporting the community of Hyndburn and surrounding areas.

Amongst his many achievements in this role he listed helping children overcome speech impairments, giving children a safe space to be themselves outside of the challenges of education and home life and never turning a child away as ‘too difficult’.

Phil & Eileen were the trailblazers for adaptive judo with fully inclusive judo classes and during the late 1980s and early 1990s they added regional squad managers to their portfolio. They were formally recognised by the BJA in 2012 with a Volunteers of the Year award and Phil is still on Hyndburn Sports Centre ‘Wall of Fame’ to date for his sporting achievements.

Recognising the disparity in treatment between boys & girls in the 1980s and 1990s, Phil embraced the opportunity of leading the NW Women & Girls and took upon challenging policies in order to get equal funding for girls and women, thus enabling many more women and girls from the North West to then start their National and International journeys.

During their tenure they ran many successful trips to the National Championships and Team Championships, bringing home the first ever Women & Girls National Team medals to the North West Area which they were deservedly very proud of.

During this time Phil also competed around the Veterans circuit winning National and International medals and inspiring many others to continue their competitive journeys. Phil continued to compete in Veterans championships in every decade of his life including last year at the age of 70.

Performance was never Phil’s sole focus and his top rate coaching enabled several members to gain full international representation, including his daughter Sami. He was extremely proud of all of his former members some of whom have gone on to lead their own clubs and even excel further, one of these include Nathon Burns who competed for Great Britain and latterly Ireland where he is now Head Coach.

Nathon reflected on the influence Phil had on his early and current career: ‘Phil was a giant of a man, his actions throughout his life have left incredible footprints on so many people who had the opportunity to be around him. His personality was so infectious and he created, and made, some of my absolute fondest memories. He’s one of the very few humans who helped me fall in love with judo and create a fire I have never lost for the sport, more importantly he instilled key principles in me, and I’m just one of many people who feel like this and be extremely thankful I had Phil in my life growing up.’ 

Phil leaves behind his best friend and wife Eileen, children Steven & Sami and grandchildren Jessica, Neve & Pippa along with his brother Jimmy and nieces and nephews.

The judo family will be forever grateful for Phil’s contribution to many 100’s of children and adults falling in love with judo. He will be sorely missed by everyone who had the pleasure to know him. We wish all of Phil’s family our heartfelt condolences at this sad time.