The first is a historical publication titled A History of the Footscray Football Club: Unleashed, detailing the rich background of one of Australia’s most beloved sporting organisations.

The second is a faded trophy won by Farnsworth for a five-goal haul in a metropolitan schoolboys match held in Ballarat more than 80 years ago.

While neither seems especially significant or impressive, they are both, alongside Farnsworth himself, intrinsically linked to the Western Bulldogs’ recent push to make Ballarat its home away from home.

For many, it’s a move that has been years in the making after the Dogs replaced North Melbourne’s extended off-season tenure at Eureka Stadium in late October.

But for Farnsworth, it’s a fitting way to celebrate a life devoted to the red, white and blue.

Speaking from his Meadow Gardens Retirement Village cottage, the 95-year-old remains one of the few people alive who can still speak of Footscray’s storied history since its admission into the Victorian Football League.

“Ninety years ... they’ve been one of my first loves,” Farnsworth recalled, as he looked up from the book detailing his grandfather’s time as mayor of Footscray.

“I was only six years old when they were trying to get admission into the Victorian Football League.

“As a young lad I lived quite a lot of my life with my grandparents and it was my grandad (George Farnsworth II) who was president of Footscray in their Association (Victorian Football Association) days.

“Really, the push to gain admission into the VFL started in 1923 when they were Association premiers and he was president-elect.”

Despite Footscray’s continued success in the VFA during the 1910s and early ’20s, the club had to overcome many obstacles to gain entrance to Victoria’s elite competition.

Flags in 1913, 1919, 1920 and 1923 did little to curb the lack of enthusiasm from many of the VFL’s existing clubs, and it wasn’t until Farnsworth senior took over as president-elect that Footscray began to pay tribute to its motto of Cede Nullis, meaning ‘yield to none’.

Under Farnsworth II, Footscray’s push into the league became more of an objective and ideal, eventually succeeding on the eve of January 9, 1925, just months after it secured the 1924 VFA premiership.

“The negotiations started (in 1923) but were forestalled for a while by Collingwood, who objected on the grounds that there was enough teams in the league already,” Farnsworth said.

“There was a little bit of cunning used by Footscray then.

“My grandfather was friendly with two of (celebrated Australian operatic soprano) Dame Nellie Melba’s uncles who had business interests in Footscray, and a little plot was cooked up which saw Dame Nellie go to the press and suggest that it would be nice if the respective premiers in Essendon in Footscray played a challenge match.”

The Tricolours would march on to record a famous upset in front of 46,000 onlookers, with all proceeds from the match put towards Nellie Melba’s Limbless Soldiers’ Appeal, while Essendon champion Tom Fitzmaurice left the club in disgust.

Farnsworth wasn’t present for Footscray’s first VFL game, but he was given the enviable honour of leading the team out onto the ground for its maiden home game match.

“I do believe we beat South Melbourne that day,” he said.

“I was a staunch supporter of Footscray then and have been ever since – I remember it all so clearly.”

He was present, too, the day that Footscray won its first – and only – VFL premiership, beating Melbourne 15.12 (102) to 7.9 (51) in 1954.

“Footscray were about four goals up at quarter-time and my mate and I nearly came to blows – he was so disgruntled,” he laughed.

Farnsworth II, who had remained on the Footscray board as senior vice-president for 15 years, also witnessed the win.

“I was so thrilled that he lived long enough to see them win their first premiership,” Farnsworth said.

“He died about a month later, but he saw them, and it still means a lot, that he was the one to get them there.”

To his grandfather’s great disappointment, Farnsworth opted not to pursue a career in the family business, instead taking a role as a cadet at Imperial Chemical Industries as a 16-year-old where he would work for the remainder of his life and eventually retire as a contracting engineer for one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers.

Many years passed before his quiet retirement in Ballarat, the site of one his proudest moments as a footballer.

He already knew the city well, having claimed the aforementioned trophy for second-best-on-ground performance during his school years, with Des Fothergill taking top honours.

Fothergill would go on to tie for the 1940 Brownlow Medal and become a Collingwood legend, while Farnsworth’s playing days ended several years later after a campaign with the Royal Australian Air Force.

In his latter years, he witnessed the rebranding of Footscray to the Western Bulldogs in October, 1996, following the VFL’s transition to the Australian Football League six years prior.

Quite simply, Farnsworth has seen it all and knows better than most how special it is to have an AFL club with such a rich history decide on Ballarat as its expansion point.

“Even though success has somewhat eluded Footscray, they have the second highest number of Brownlow Medal winners,” Farnsworth said.

“We’ve had our champions, and I’d love to see them play again.”

Now, ironically, he has to play the waiting game, with AFL points matches not scheduled for Eureka Stadium until 2017, following Labor’s win in last Saturday’s state election.

“From my selfish point of view, yes it’s the right way to go because I’d love to see a game,” he said.

“I also think its good to keep the bigger provincial cities interested in football, but whether it’s the right move financially or not, I don’t know.

“I never thought about the possibility of AFL games being played in Ballarat when I first moved here, I just hope that I’m up to getting over to seeing them.

“The first thought that occurred to me was, I hope it’s next season (sic) because I might have a chance of making it.

“After that I’m not so sure,” he laughed.

michael.pollock@fairfaxmedia.com.au