Socceroos great Mark Schwarzer, Matildas legends Kate Gill and Heather Garriock and Tasmanian football icon Joseph (Joe) Huxley Honeysett have been inducted into Football Australia’s Hall of Fame.
Key points:
- Schwarzer, Gill, Garriock and Huxley Honeysett are technically the 2021’s inductions, with FA planning to hold another process this year
- FA chief executive James Johnson says the inductees ” laid the foundations for future generations to grow the world game on Australian soil”
- The quartet were nominated for induction via a public process, then considered by a panel of Australian football historians
The first elevations since 2019 were inducted ahead of Thursday night’s Socceroos World Cup qualifier against Vietnam in Melbourne.
Schwarzer is the Socceroos’ most-capped player, making 109 appearances for the national team between 1993 and 2003.
The goalkeeper was part of Australia’s ‘golden generation’, famously making two saves in the 2005 penalty shootout against Uruguay that sent the Socceroos to their first World Cup in 32 years.
Schwarzer attended the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, won the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, and made more than 500 English Premier League appearances.
Former Matildas captain and current PFA co-chief executive Gill scored 41 goals for Australia in 86 matches between 2004 and 2015 and remains the team’s third-highest international goalscorer.
The striker became the first Australian to win AFC Women’s Player of the Year in 2010, when she helped the Matildas claim their first Women’s Asian Cup.
Fellow 2010 Asian Cup winner Garriock amassed 130 caps between 1999 and 2011, also claiming the 2003 OFC Women’s Championship.
Loading
Midfielder Garriock also featured in three Women’s World Cups (2003, 2007 and 2011), scoring in 2003 and 2007 and at the 2000 Olympics.
Huxley Honeysett was inducted posthumously.
He played a significant role in the establishment of FA’s member federations in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
The son of 2003 inductee JJB Honeysett also played as a centre-forward in the first matches for South Hobart FC, Southern Tasmania, and Tasmania.
“The Football Australia Hall of Fame features many icons of our sport — people that have represented Australia with aplomb domestically and internationally, have fought for the advancement of our sport, and have laid the foundations for future generations to grow the world game on Australian soil,” FA chief executive James Johnson said.
“Equally, I trust that Joe, who is being acknowledged posthumously, would have been thrilled to be inducted. The Huxley Honeysett name is now forever inscribed in Australian football’s history.”
The quartet were nominated for induction via a public process, then considered by a panel of Australian football historians, who provided their recommendations to the FA board for ratification.
They are technically 2021’s inductions, with FA planning to hold another process this year.
AAP
