Farewell to one of Australia's finest

The man known affectionatly as "Captain Socceroo", Johnny Warren, passed away this evening around 5:30 pm following a long, hard fought battle with cancer.

He was admitted to the Prince Alfred Hospital on Wednesday after suffering breathing difficulties and other complications.

Johnny Warren represented Australia on 62 occasions scoring a total of 9 goals. He captained the national side between 1967 and 1974 where he represented Australia in its only world cup campaign, suffering a foot injury in the 0-2 loss against West Germany. It ruled him out of the remaining world cup matches and Johnny Warren soon retired after that.

More recently Johnny Warren was a senior football analyst for SBS.

In 1998 Johnny Warren was inducted into Australia's sporting Hall of Fame. In 2002 he released his first book "Sheila's, Wogs and Poofters" which became a best seller in Australia. That same year he was also amongst the Queens birthday honours list, receiving the Medal of the Order of Australia.

In July this year Johnny Warren was honoured with the FIFA Centenial Medal of Honour by Sepp Blatter in a formal ceremony in Sydney.

Johnny Warren will be sorely missed, not just by his family and friends, but by the footballing community and indeed the nation.

Johnny Warren: 1943-2004

November 6, 2004

Please send email to davesworldcup@hotmail.com if you have any questions.