Product Code Database
John Norman Warren, MBE, OAM (17 May 1943 – 6 November 2004) was an Australian soccer player, coach, administrator, writer and broadcaster. He was known as Captain Socceroo for his passionate work to promote the game in Australia. The award for the best player in the A-League is named the Johnny Warren Medal in his honour.
He attended Cleveland St. High School, Surry Hills, later becoming the school vice-captain.
In 1963 Warren transferred to St George Budapest. In a 12-year stint at St George Warren won three NSW State League grand finals, one premiership and two state cups. His final action as a player was to score a match-winning goal for St George in the 1974 NSW State League Grand Final. Immediately after scoring the goal he substituted himself off.
In 1967 Warren captained the national team for the first time in a match against New Zealand in Saigon. He went on to captain Australia in 24 internationals.
| Quoc Khanh Cup | |||||||||||
| Quoc Khanh Cup | |||||||||||
| Quoc Khanh Cup | |||||||||||
| Quoc Khanh Cup | |||||||||||
| 1970 World Cup qual. | |||||||||||
| Friendly match | |||||||||||
| Friendly match | |||||||||||
| Correct as of 21 January 2016 | |||||||||||
As well as helping found Canberra City, he served as the team's first coach in 1977 and 1978.
Warren wept openly on national television in 1997 when two very late goals by Iran resulted in a 2–2 draw against the Socceroos in the final World Cup qualifying match and sent Iran to the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, numerous international visitors including members of Brazil's Under 19s football team travelled to Gold Creek to get their first taste of Australian country life. Annual football camps were also held there under the auspices of the Australian Soccer Federation. Over a period of ten years, upwards of 10,000 teenagers from around the nation completed the two-week training camps.
Warren claimed that these results showed that Australia was a much more powerful football nation than many gave it credit for. At the time, Australia was reigning world champion in the other international codes – rugby union, rugby league and cricket, in addition to being an Olympic power and won four Formula One world titles between the 1950s and 1980s (with Jack Brabham and Alan Jones).
Nevertheless, Warren predicted that the Australian national team would attain consistent international success. He famously expressed a desire to say 'I told you so' to the team's detractors. The phrase has since become commonplace in the Australian soccer community, reflective of Warren's overarching desire to see soccer become the most popular sport in Australia.
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 (International Federation of Association Football) 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 rebranded Australian domestic football league, the A-League, which replaced the previous National Soccer 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 FIFA World Cup appeared on the scoreboard in the backdrop of the SBS World Cup studio.
Warren 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. Just over a year after his death, Australia qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 32 years, after defeating Uruguay in a penalty shootout. SBS analyst and former Socceroo Craig Foster was heard to shout "Johnny Warren!" on air in the immediate aftermath of Australia's victory, and shortly before the end of the SBS broadcast, the journalist and his longtime colleague and friend Les Murray said "They've done it, Johnny!".
He is survived by his only child Shannon Lee Warren (daughter of Donna Gilberston) and his four grandchildren Riley, Natasha, Tayla and Rhianna.
Johnny Warren's untimely death in 2004 meant that he never witnessed the Socceroos qualify for a FIFA World Cup after doing so in 1973. When Australia ended a 31 year wait to qualify for a FIFA World Cup, defeating Uruguay on penalties, Les Murray paid homage to Warren's legacy on the SBS broadcast. At the commencement of the post-match analysis, Murray joyously opened the segment, claiming that the match was "one of the most epic games that I've had the opportunity to witness, and I've seen a few as you may be able to guess, and of course one in which we were all emotionally involved. And for Johnny Warren, I told you so, I told you so, and there it is, he has been proven to be right once again." Looking up to the sky, Murray profoundly said "Johnny, we hear you". In later World Cup qualification cycles, Australian supporters have frequently displayed that display Warren's iconic 'I told you so' message. In the second leg of Australia's intercontinental play-off match against Honduras, the Green and Gold Army created a tifo honouring both Warren and Les Murray. When Australia qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup against Peru, supporters were seen in the stadium bearing 'I told you so' banners in Warren's honour. At the Matildas' games during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, members of the Matildas Active Support group unfurled banners displaying 'I told you so', as well as 'never say die'. In 2005, Johnny Warren's family donated a collection of 503 items of memorabilia to the National Museum of Australia. The collection includes football uniforms, medals, scrapbooks and trophies. The National Museum paid tribute to Warren in 2010 with 'I told you so': Johnny Warren and football in Australia, a display to coincide with the World Cup.
The Jamberoo Pub, located on the NSW South Coast, is owned and run by members of the Warren family. The hotel bistro is well known for being a shrine dedicated to Johnny Warren, containing medals, photos, awards and other memorabilia about his life.
In 2022, the NSW Government reopened the Sydney Football Stadium after a four-year construction period. In an initiative to commemorate significant sporting figures in New South Wales, Johnny Warren was posthumously honoured with bay 23 of the stadium being named in his honour. Warren was included in the venue's 'Ring of Champions' along with Arthur Beetson, Ron Coote, Betty Cuthbert and Nicholas Shehadie. Warren was also recognised by the SCG Trust with a permanent statue outside the stadium in honour of his captaincy of the 1974 Socceroos and his advocacy for the development of association football in Australia.
St George Budapest
|
|
