Ken Smale (born 5 November 1933) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er, who played in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Born in Warrnacknabeal Smale played as a forward for the town team and he won the

Wimmera Football League The Wimmera Football League is a major Australian rules country league based in Western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with clubs located in towns in the Wimmera region: the regional centres along the Western Highway from Ararat, Victoria, A ...

goalkicking award in 1952 and 1953. Keen to have a go in the VFL he wrote to Collingwood asking for a try out. He spent the Easter Saturday in Melbourne with a six-game permit in case he was wanted. Collingwood was impressed and he got a clearance. Ken Smale was a forward player in the losing

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

against

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1955 and 1956 but he was on the bench when Collingwood won the 1958 VFL Grand Final. Smale left Collingwood after the premiership win to return to his hometown of Warracknabeal, finishing with 324 games for the club, and winning two premierships. In 2008 Collingwood granted him a life membership.

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* * Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Collingwood Football Club players Collingwood Football Club premiership players Warracknabeal Football Club players 1933 births Living people VFL/AFL premiership players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub