National Museum of Australia - 'I told you so': Johnny Warren and Football in Australia

'I told you so'

A free interactive display in the Hall
15 May to 9 August 2010, 9am-5pm

Football fever has come to the National Museum!

To coincide with the FIFA World Cup the Museum pays tribute to Australian football legend Johnny Warren and takes a look into the evolution of the world game of football in Australia.

Johnny Warren was a captain, coach, commentator and champion of football in Australia. In the 50 years that he was associated with the game, it evolved into a mainstream sport in Australia and is now a part of the nation's sporting identity.

Left: Tracksuit top worn by Johnny Warren at the 1974 World Cup. Donated to the National Museum of Australia by Ross Warren, Geoff Warren, Jamie Warren and Sibere Rodrigues.

Come to the Museum to discover why Warren once said those famous words: 'I told you so'. In the display you can:

see the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit awarded to Johnny Warren just months before his death in 2004 – one of only 100 medals given out around the world
play with a replica of the Johnny Warren coaching clinic wheel
see the boots worn by Australian captain Cheryl Salisbury when she kicked the goal to take the Matildas to the FIFA Women's World Cup quarter finals in 2007
see the shirt worn at the 1974 FIFA World Cup by Harry Williams, the first Indigenous person to represent Australia in football
watch footage from the Homeless World Cup held in Melbourne in 2008 and see the football signed by members of Manchester United for Australia's Street Socceroos
play foosball (table soccer).

Football – now a part of Australia's sporting identity

When Warren started playing football in 1948, it was derided as a game for 'sheilas, wogs and poofters'. However it was English immigrants who first promoted the game in Australia from around 1880.

Many things have changed in football today. The introduction of the A-league competition has brought a new professionalism and organisation to the game in Australia. Soccer is returning to its roots and taking to the streets with homeless people playing street soccer. Women's soccer is one the fastest growing sports in the world and Indigenous kids are developing a love for the sport.

Thanks to a generous donation by the Warren family, the National Museum of Australia is the proud custodian, for all Australians, of the Johnny Warren collection.

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