As South Australian football fans prepare for a grand final clash against a team from arch rival Victoria, rare film has emerged of one of SA's greatest ever players.
Ken Farmer played 224 league matches for North Adelaide during the Depression in which he kicked an astonishing 1,417 goals.
His average of 6.3 goals per match earned him the title of football's Bradman.
In 1930 he became the first South Australian player to kick 100 goals in a season — something he repeated for 11 consecutive years.
Aside from a handful of photographs, Farmer has lived only in the memory of those who saw him play.
Until now.
The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) has discovered footage of Farmer playing in a match for South Australia against Victoria at a national carnival in Sydney in 1933.
In a twist of irony the film shows Farmer, wearing number 9, missing a shot for goal.
NFSA Archivist Simon Smith said the footage contains a number of stars of 1930s football, including Glenelg champion Len Sallis, Collingwood great Gordon "Nuts" Coventry and Fitzroy's Haydn Bunton, who won three Brownlow Medals and three Sandover Medals (with West Australia).
A statue of Ken Farmer was recently unveiled at the Adelaide Oval.
His name is attached to a medal awarded to the leading goal scorer in the SANFL each season.
