THE VISUAL record of Australian football has been given an extraordinary boost with the recent discovery of the entire second half of the iconic 1964 VFL Grand Final between Melbourne and Collingwood, won by the Demons by four points.

The game is famous for a late goal in the final term by Demons' back pocket Neil Crompton that put Melbourne in front for the final time – his only goal for the entire season – while the premiership was the sixth as a coach for Hall of Fame Legend Norm Smith and also the sixth as a player for Hall of Fame Legend Ron Barassi, in his last game for the club before he began his own stellar coaching career with Carlton the following season.

Until now, only 17 minutes of match footage is on the record from newsreel footage of the time, with none of the match-day telecasts by any rights holder having been seen over the past six decades, before this find of the Channel Nine match call by Hall of Fame broadcaster Tony Charlton and colleagues Jim Taylor, Ian Cleland and Geoff Leek. GTV9, HSV7, ATV0 and ABV2 all broadcast highlights that day in some form, but no other vision has been seen since Barassi hoisted the Cup that evening on September 19, 1964.

Historian Rhett Bartlett, son of Hall of Fame Legend Kevin, is well-known across football for his YouTube channel that has uncovered so much new vision from the game's past and he had been searching for the match tapes for this game for nearly a decade, until they were uncovered at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). 

"This discovery is as good as it gets," Bartlett says, who financed the digitisation and liaised between the parties for its release. 

"It's not just the last few minutes of the game but the entire second half TV broadcast which was long thought to have been lost, erased or destroyed.

"This is now the only known surviving TV broadcast of the 1964 Grand Final."

Aside from Legends Smith and Barassi, fellow Hall of Famers Hassa Mann and Brian Dixon were part of that day's Melbourne outfit while the Magpies were coached by Hall of Famer Bob Rose and numbered another Hall of Famer in future captain Des Tuddenham in their ranks

The black and white vision, now digitised, is high quality and showcases 1960s football – very different to today's game with its focus on plentiful one-on-one contests around the ground – as well as the 'look' of Melbourne and the MCG in the 1960s, with multiple shots both of the crowd and the ground itself, with the old stands that are long gone nowadays.

NFSA Curator Simon Smith said the material was part of a collection of 16mm black and white prints of GTV9 programs donated by a former longtime staffer who worked at the station's Bendigo Street studio.

"These two reels of 16mm film, comprising the entire second half of the 1964 VFL Grand Final, are the only known surviving television broadcast coverage of the game held in the NFSA's collection," Mr Smith said.

"This is the first time we've encountered the exciting live commentary of the game's closing stages. 

"The two film reels were recently digitised by NFSA technical staff, ensuring their accessibility and long-term preservation for all Aussie Rules football fans to enjoy."

The vision can be viewed HERE. 

The AFL wishes to thank Channel Nine, and senior reporter Tony Jones, for its support in bringing the footage back into the public arena, the work of the NFSA and Bartlett's determination over the last decade to find and re-publish old vision that was thought to be lost forever, scouring old tapes and loops donated to him by people across the game.