Vale Ken Smale
1933-2026
CFC Career 1955-58
60 games 98 goals

The Collingwood Football Club is saddened to announce the passing of 1958 Premiership player Ken Smale.

Smale, who twice won the Club’s goalkicking and once kicked eight goals in a preliminary final, died just before Easter at age 92.

Ken was a Warracknabeal product who in the 1950s was branded by one newspaper as ‘the ‘Wimmera League’s John Coleman’, after topping that competition’s goalkicking table for three straight years. And while he might not have quite hit the heights of the fabled Essendon champion, he nevertheless made quite a mark in his relatively brief time at the top.

He had a good leap and was an excellent grab. He was also finely, but strongly, built and extremely agile. He was good on the lead, a long kick and most of all loved kicking goals. He wasn't particularly tall, but he seemed perfectly suited to life as a mobile forward who could 'play tall'.

He came to Victoria Park for the 1955 season, played in the first game of the season and by the end of the year led the Club’s goalkicking with 47 goals, including one haul of seven, despite a mid-season glitch over his transfer.

The 1956 season was more of a struggle, partly through injury and partly because he was only able to train one night a week due to work commitments with the family’s farm machinery business, doing the rest of his training back at Warracknabeal. Even so, he was brought back into the team for the preliminary final against Footscray, spearheading a Pies win with a staggering eight-goal haul. It would be the finest moment of his League career.

That performance helped give him back-to-back goalkicking titles too. But the next two years were harder work, and the goals dried up. But the Magpie selectors still rated his talents, and named him on the bench for that unforgettable Grand Final day in 1958.

That would prove to be his last game with Collingwood, and he returned to Warracknabeal where he would go on to be one of that club’s most influential figures, playing a record 324 games, winning two best and fairests, playing in two flags and acting as both captain and captain-coach.

He also ran the family business and was an active and much-loved community member, with a particular highlight being his 80 years of service with the Warracknabeal and District Band. He joined the brass band at nine, and throughout his time there played the cornet and soprano cornet and also served as President and Director.

The Board, management, staff, coaches and players of the Collingwood Football Club wish to place on record our appreciation for Ken’s contribution to our footy club, and especially for his part in our famous 1958 Premiership win. Our thoughts are with his family, and all his friends from Collingwood, Warracknabeal and beyond.

Side By Side

To read more about Ken’s career and see all his stats, please read his full story here.