Johnny Warren scholarship to fund research in football governance
June 13, 2018: University of Sydney
The late football great Johnny Warren once famously said he was sick of people asking when Australia was going to qualify for the World Cup. Instead, he said, we should be asking, “When are we going to win the World Cup?”
As the Socceroos prepare to compete in the FIFA World Cup in Russia this month, the foundation set up in Warren’s memory is donating $140,000 to the University of Sydney Business School to establish a PhD scholarship for research into the governance of football in Australia.
Warren’s nephew Jamie Warren, executive chair of the Johnny Warren Football Foundation, said the gift was in keeping with the organisation’s goal to achieve his uncle’s dream of an Australian World Cup victory.
“Our focus is on Uncle John’s legacy and what football can do for this country,” he said. “We want to support high-quality research that will inspire discussion and debate, and influence policy. We want to improve the way we do things in football in Australia – look at what the problems are and how to fix them.”
The governance of football in Australia has long been a complex and controversial issue. In 2003 – the year before Warren’s death from lung cancer – he was a major contributor to the Crawford Report, which criticised the corruption and poor organisation that had plagued the Australian game for decades. Despite changes that Warren helped implement, tensions persist. Recently, the representative group for A-League clubs, the Australian Professional Football Clubs Association, has been highly critical of Football Federation Australia’s approach to management, calling for FIFA’s assistance with a large-scale overhaul of the game’s administration in Australia.
The topics that could be investigated by the scholarship recipient are wide-ranging, said Professor Stephen Greaves of the Business School. The school will soon begin the search for a candidate to start work in March next year.
“There is a broad spectrum of governance and management issues that could be addressed,” said Professor Greaves. “Australia has challenges right from the grassroots in trying to promote the game against other codes, but also in competing with the rest of the world, in that so many of our best players go overseas.”
Other subjects that could be explored include youth development, gender equity, Indigenous participation and football’s role in Australia’s relationships with other nations. “We are only limited by our imagination,” said Jamie Warren.
As a child, Jamie and his famous uncle would spend hours kicking a ball around in the backyard. Decades later, when Jamie was an adult and his uncle had moved to the south coast of NSW to be close to his family in his final illness, they’d take daily walks together around Kiama and the Blowhole.
“From a young age, I knew what a star he was, but I didn’t really realise the impact he had on people through his personality,” said Jamie. “He had this ability to meet someone, then within five minutes, he’d made them feel that they’d known him all their life. He never came across as a superstar. He was a humble man with no ego.”
Johnny Warren’s career as a footballer included 42 international matches, including Australia’s first World Cup appearance in 1974. After retiring as a player, he went on to a successful career as a soccer coach, administrator, commentator and writer. His best-selling book of 2002, Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters: An Incomplete Biography of Johnny Warren and Soccer in Australia, traced the growth of the game’s popularity, its title referencing the sexist, racist and homophobic attitudes towards football held by many Australians in the past.
“Uncle John believed in the game and its power to improve things for this country,” said Jamie. “We’d like to build on that legacy.”
After retiring as a player, Mr. Warren went on to work as a coach, administrator and commentator.
Professor David Cooper AC remembered at public memorial
June 14th, 2018
By Lucy Carroll - UNSW
UNSW Scientia Professor David Cooper AC, a global leader in the response to HIV/AIDS, has been remembered at a public memorial today at Sydney Town Hall.
Guests at memorial service for UNSW Professor David Cooper AC. Photo: Bec Lewis
More than 1000 people gathered to pay tribute to Professor Cooper, immunologist and director of the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney for 32 years, who had dedicated his life to the prevention, treatment and cure of HIV and other infectious diseases. Professor Cooper, who passed away in March this year aged 68, was remembered by colleagues, patients, family and friends for his significant contributions to HIV treatment and prevention that saved countless lives in Australia and globally.
UNSW Scientia Professor David Cooper. Photo Maja Baska
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, patron of the Kirby Institute, spoke about Professor Cooper’s leadership and legacy, and the importance of ensuring the continuation of his research aimed at eliminating HIV around the world.
“David Cooper was tireless in the preparation. He was superbly professional. He gathered together a magnificent team. He reached out, beyond our country. We should be proud of such a scientist and of our country, its universities and the institutions, that produced him,” said Mr Kirby. “His family that nurtured him. His religion that taught him. The patients that loved him. But he was not ours alone. He belonged to the world of science. Today we honour him as a global hero.
“The worst tragedy of the premature death of David Cooper would be if his legacy were now to die. If HIV and other bloodborne diseases were to be reclaimed, remedicalised and returned entirely to the medical experts. He was the supreme interdisciplinarian. He was the master of team work. He smashed the silos of our minds,” said Mr Kirby.
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG speaking at the memorial service. Photo: Bec Lewis
Professor Ian Jacobs, President and Vice-Chancellor of UNSW Sydney, remembered David Cooper as a “wonderful leader, colleague, mentor and a brilliant mind”.
“He was the first academic I met when I accepted the role of Vice-Chancellor of UNSW. He travelled to Manchester to welcome me, and share his invaluable insights into UNSW. Above all, David ensured I knew just how important the work of the Kirby Institute was,” said Professor Jacobs.
“There are few people I have met, not just in medical research but anywhere, who combined David’s intellect, passion and compassion. His dedication to his research was surpassed only by the care and dignity with which he treated his patients.”
Other speakers at the memorial service included Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, Associate Professor Anthony Schembri, Chief Executive Officer at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and Craig Cooper, CEO of Positive Life NSW. Ita Buttrose hosted the service.
Professor Ian Jacobs, President and Vice-Chancellor of UNSW Sydney at the memorial service. Photo: Bec Lewis
Guests included former Labor Health Minister Neal Blewett, former Liberal Senator Peter Baume, former NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner, former Governor of NSW Marie Bashir, Matt Thistlethwaite MP and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek.
On June 11, Professor Cooper was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). He was recognised for “eminent service to medicine, particularly in HIV/AIDS research, as a clinician, scientist and administrator, to the development of therapies and to health programs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific”.
Of the honour, Mr Kirby said: “To honour David, and to do so this week, has allowed Australia to speak with one loud, clear voice. David was one of our finest, bravest and best of scientists and citizens. A golden decoration reflects the wattle of his beloved country. It is a shining consolation for Dorrie and the family. And for his colleagues at the Kirby Institute, and far beyond.”
Ita Buttrose AO, OBE hosted the memorial service. Photo: Bec Lewis