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As fourth anniversary of the death of Johnny Warren passes by, it’s clear that although we know so much of him as an ambassador of the game and as a media personality, we know so little about him as a distinguished Socceroo.
That’s why I believe there should be a movie about the 1974 Soccerroos.
It’s a story rarely celebrated, and rarely known, yet it is a great story. It’s a story of courage and sacrifice, and a story of a side of amateurs qualifying for the World Cup against the odds.
It should start off in Phnom Penh in 1965.
The players walk into the dressing room dejected and demoralised after a 9-2 aggregate defeat to North Korea. The camera zooms in on John Warren, a bench player who witness the massacre, our sporting version of Gallipoli, and you see him mouth with steely determination “never again.”
Fade to the next scene, back in Australia, with defender Manfred Shaefer delivering milk every morning. You see, the Soccerroos in the past weren’t millionaires playing in the richest leagues in Europe. They were amateurs and they had day jobs outside of playing for their clubs.
The occupations ranged from miners, to salesman and tradesman. These players played for the love of the game. When they were selected to play for Australia, they had to take unpaid leave from their job to travel across the world to represent our country.
Some of them understandably declined as they didn’t want to risk their employment. Other players lost their job, their livelihood, and sometimes even their family because they wanted to represent Australia in a game they love.
The movie should focus on three main characters.
The first character would be Johnny Warren. It would document him captaining the side to Vietnam in 1967 in the middle of the Vietnam War. The Australian team was used as a propaganda tool to help win the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people. They stayed in hotels that could be described as a “hole.”
Artillery fire could be heard during the match. During the training when the ball was kicked out of the ground. A player tried to run and get the ball, but was stopped by military as there was a minefield out there.
Australia won their first international tournament with a 3-2 victory over South Korea. For their reward for this they were allowed by the ASA to keep their tracksuits. A journalist reporting on the performance of Australia in this tournament coined the name Soccerroos and a legend was born.
Later on, John Warren got a shocking injury that at the time seemed like a career ending injury. The movie should show the steely determination of Warren to recover from injury and help Australia qualify for the World Cup.
The second character would be Ray Baartz.
He was an Australian star – the best player at the time, and quite possibly the best player Australia has ever produced. He was as skilful as Mark Viduka, strong as an ox, could kick with both feet, and had one of the powerful shots in the game.
The movie would document his contributions in all World Cup Qualifiers. It should then show the fateful Uruguay warm up match where he was karate chopped in the neck. He later won the match for Australia with a goal and an assist, but a day later his carotid artery closed up and he suffered a stroke.
He was sent to the hospital and was battling for his life. He was in a coma for two days, and although he recovered, he would never play professional football again and he missed out on the World Cup that he helped to qualify.
It was the birth of the rivalry with Uruguay.
The last main character would be Peter Wilson, the forgotten Captain Soccerroos. He may not be the greatest ambassador of the game, as Johnny Warren was, but he was influential, inspirational and a popular captain of the team (he was voted 20-1 to remain captain of Australia after Johnny Warren returned from injury).
He was a tough tackling defender and led Australia with distinction in the 1974 World Cup.
Then there was the World Cup in Germany.
They were treated as professionals for the first time in their life, and given access to training facilities that they could only dream about in Australia. The team had no reputation and were initially mocked by the German Press when they were arrived.
However, after the three matches, especially the fighting 2-0 lost to East Germany where they gallantly held off the team for most of the match, they won the respect of the German media with one newspaper writing an apology and saying that Australia won their respect and showed a lot of heart in their performance.
When the Soccerroos returned home, several players received offers to play in Europe. It was an opportunity for them to become professional football players.
They all said no because they felt they would be homesick playing in Europe and they loved this country too much for them to leave.
The movie should end on that note, showing that it was certainly a different era.
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