roostersgal4eva
6th November 2006, 18:43
Football lost its finest
Johnny Warren MBE OAM Died 2004, Australian footballer
Warren grew up in the southern Sydney suburb of Botany. He was a junior at Botany Methodists, and received his first taste of representative football when selected for the Protestant Churches state team at age 10.
Warren was a key member of the first Australian team to qualify for the World Cup finals. The Socceroos competed at the 1974 World Cup in Group A with West Germany, East Germany and Chile. Warren played in the 2-0 loss to East Germany, where he suffered a foot injury which ruled him out of Australia’s two remaining World Cup games. Australia's sole point came from a 0-0 draw with Chile.
After playing 62 internationals for Australia, Warren retired from the national team.
After smoking heavily for most of his life, in 2003 Warren publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Several months later FIFA president Sepp Blatter presented a frail Warren with the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit for his services to the game in Australia.
His last public appearance was made during the launch of the new Australian domestic football league, branded the A-League, which replaced the previous National football League.
Weeks before death, Warren was asked what he wanted his sporting legacy to be - his answer "I Told You So", a phrase which has become a catch-cry in Australian football and during the 2006 World Cup appeared on the scoreboard in the backdrop of the SBS World Cup studio.
He died of respiratory complications related to his cancer on 6 November 2004, at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. He was awarded a full state funeral, the first to be held for a sportsman.
for those who followed the round ball code, he will be missed
He was Football's version of Ted Witten or Peter Brock
he wanted soccer to be known as football and only he predicted the outstanding sucess of the A-League
RIP!
Johnny Warren MBE OAM Died 2004, Australian footballer
Warren grew up in the southern Sydney suburb of Botany. He was a junior at Botany Methodists, and received his first taste of representative football when selected for the Protestant Churches state team at age 10.
Warren was a key member of the first Australian team to qualify for the World Cup finals. The Socceroos competed at the 1974 World Cup in Group A with West Germany, East Germany and Chile. Warren played in the 2-0 loss to East Germany, where he suffered a foot injury which ruled him out of Australia’s two remaining World Cup games. Australia's sole point came from a 0-0 draw with Chile.
After playing 62 internationals for Australia, Warren retired from the national team.
After smoking heavily for most of his life, in 2003 Warren publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Several months later FIFA president Sepp Blatter presented a frail Warren with the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit for his services to the game in Australia.
His last public appearance was made during the launch of the new Australian domestic football league, branded the A-League, which replaced the previous National football League.
Weeks before death, Warren was asked what he wanted his sporting legacy to be - his answer "I Told You So", a phrase which has become a catch-cry in Australian football and during the 2006 World Cup appeared on the scoreboard in the backdrop of the SBS World Cup studio.
He died of respiratory complications related to his cancer on 6 November 2004, at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. He was awarded a full state funeral, the first to be held for a sportsman.
for those who followed the round ball code, he will be missed
He was Football's version of Ted Witten or Peter Brock
he wanted soccer to be known as football and only he predicted the outstanding sucess of the A-League
RIP!