Vale John Economos

Football Australia is deeply saddened to hear of the unfortunate passing of Hall of Fame Inductee and one of the nation’s final leading and veteran journalists, John Economos.

Anyone that had the pleasure of meeting and working with John knew that he had his own amazing and unique style on how to write and tell his incredible football stories.

He was a walking football encyclopedia and touched so many people in his own special way where he made so many friends in the game he ever so loved.

One friend in particular was the great Johnny Warren whom the two formed a special bond and became best mates at the Cleveland Boys High School in Sydney’s Inner West.

Warren took Economos with him on his football journey, from the famous Canterbury ‘Babes’ of the late 1950s, through to the great St George side of the 1970s, Economos followed Warren’s career at close quarters.

As a team manager, as an administrator, as a confidante, and ultimately as a writer.

When Warren moved virtually full-time into the media following retirement, Economos joined him.

John Economos & Johnny Warren
John Economos & Johnny Warren

It was in 1980 “Scoops” joined the ‘The Australian & British Soccer Weekly’, a football publication that no longer exists, it was a football media institution in its heyday which John contributed to for twenty-five plus years as he educated a generation of followers about the game.

He was famous for his column ‘The Good Oil’ – long remembered for all the scoops and news stories only he knew too well.

The proud Australian Greek scribe was always that last journalist standing during the NSL days as well as following the success of the Socceroos as he was invariably waiting until the last coffee of a long night to get the drop of gold which eluded less persistent reporters to push out that news story the next morning.

For his hard working services to the game, Economos was inducted into Football Australia’s Hall of Fame in 2009 championed by the late and great Mike Cockerill, another one of John’s closest friends.

Admired, and respected by generations of players, from the Socceroos of ‘74 to the current Socceroos, to the past and present clubs in the NSL and our very own National Premier Leagues NSW competitions, John lived and breathed every inch of the game.

Economos till the end still loved watching our game.

Always accredited by Football NSW, it was always a pleasure seeing John take in the sights and sounds at Lambert Park, Belmore Sports Ground and ‘the Palace’, watching our beautiful game.

Reunited with his best friend Johnny Warren, you can be sure the two will be talking about all things football as they once shared together that formed that unique bond.

Football Australia would like to pass on its sincere condolences to the Economos family and his close friends.