"Sheilas, Wogs & Poofters is really a story of my time in soccer in this country... I hope the title doesn't offend anyone - it's not meant to. And if it does offend in 21st-century Australia then you can imagine what it was like fifty-odd years ago. 'Sheilas', 'wogs' and 'poofters' were considered the second-class citizens of the day and if you played soccer, you were considered one of them. That's how soccer was regarded back then and, to some extent, still is today."From a nine-year-old who was initially rejected by his local under-12s team because he was "too small and needed to go home and eat more porridge" to leading the Socceroos from 1964 to 1974 through three World Cup campaigns as captain and vice-captain, Johnny Warren witnessed every stage of Australia's soccer journey for over fifty years.From the days you were called a "sheila", "wog" or "poofter" if you played soccer to today when players such as Harry Kewell are celebrated as our brightest sporting stars and prized by overseas clubs; from the curse placed on the Socceroos in 1969 by an African witch doctor through to more than thirty agonising years of trying to qualify for soccer's Holy Grail, the World Cup, Johnny Warren revealed the highs and lows of Australian soccer's past and present, and how its future success can be achieved.This is not a goal-by-goal account of Australia's on-field soccer performance. It's a fascinating and compelling insight by one of our most respected players, coaches and commentators into why acceptance of the world game in Australia has been such a long time coming.