It is a cracking line from the long-serving referee.
The Cromwell resident does not hit retirement age until next year, so he has to wait until April for said gold card.
But he is planning on retiring from refereeing a lot sooner. This weekend, actually.
He will officiate in the White Horse Cup match between Upper Clutha and Matakanui Combined, ending a 30-year career.
It is his second retirement.
The first one did not stick. He kept going for another seven years. And this retirement is more of a graduated retreat in some ways.
He plans to stay involved with the sport and coach some up-and-coming referees.
"I always think, why did I take up, and it’s because I love it," he said.
"And if you haven’t got referees, you haven’t got a rugby game, and I’m passionate about it.
"But it’s got to the stage where I’m turning 65, and so I gave away the yellow and red cards for a gold card."
Smith was motivated to take up refereeing after a chat with former referee Colin Hawke, who played an important role in two infamous moments in Otago sport.
Hawke penalised Otago hooker David Latta for getting offside late in the 1994 Ranfurly Shield against Canterbury, and Andrew Mehrtens stepped up and kicked the winner.
Hawke awarded Auckland a penalty try during the NPC final against Otago the following year.
Smith was not a fan of either decision and met up with Hawke shortly after. They had a good chat about refereeing and he was ultimately won over.
"I went along to the South Canterbury referees meeting and met Colin. He said, and he’s made it public since, the penalty try would probably be a different decision now.
"I respected that and I said, ‘you coach me for a month and I’ll give it a crack’.
"Then I got to appreciate what’s actually involved. I think if every supporter or rugby player had a couple of games under their belt as a referee, I think there’d be a lot less sideline abuse."
There are a lot of know-alls on the sideline whose knowledge about the laws of rugby can be quite limited.
But Smith said he did not always notice the abuse. He also understood most of the time it was just passion bubbling to the surface.
"You’ve got to realise there’s a difference between targeted abuse and passionate abuse, and most of it’s passionate.
"You hear it, but you don’t. I’ve never had too many issues.
"I just ignore it and I don’t take it personally. Once you get in the clubroom, everything’s left on the field most of the time.
"Probably the hardest age group is that junior age-group, where the parents think their kids are all that, you know?"
Smith said he had officiated in more than 500 games, and more than 200 of those had been at the top club level.
He stayed involved so long because "at the end of the day, I’d love to be still playing if I had my choice".
"It’s the best seat in the house, and the best option to be out in the middle".
Smith was selected in a South Island Zone squad in 2003 and had the opportunity to officiate at a higher level.
He refereed "several women’s NPC games".
"Basically, that squad was to try and get us into that Heartland squad, so I never made that next step up, unfortunately."
Despite missing out, he continued to referee, and one of the highlights was the game between Dunstan High School and Otago Boys’ in 2010.
Dunstan recorded a historic 9-8 win and he watched from the middle.
Smith will miss the people the most but he is also ready for a change.
"It’s going to be a happy, sad day. But I’ve sacrificed a lot of hunting and fishing and a bit of family life.
"That’s a good commitment we make, you know. So teams can play rugby on a Saturday."
