Ted Simmons

Ted Simmons has made a sustained and meritorious contribution to Australian football over a 60 year period.

A football journalist since 1950, he was a travelling correspondent who followed Australian national teams over a 20-year period and also filled the role of Media Officer for national teams.

His work for Australian Associated Press (AAP) gave his reporting wide coverage in Australian newspapers in an era when very few employed specialist football writers of their own.

He covered the Socceroos FIFA World Cup campaigns for Mexico 86, Italia 90 and USA 94, as well as several FIFA World Cup finals for junior men’s national teams.

He was a regular reporter on the weekly news of Australian football, including the National Soccer League from its inception in 1977.

He was and still is a staunch advocate of the game in his professional life and continued his passion once his full-time career began to wind down.

As a footballer, he played Churches football until early 1960s when he became President of NSW and then Australian Churches Football Association.

He was later elected as President Eastern Suburbs Soccer Football Association and then president Eastern Suburbs Referees Association. He was bestowed with life membership of all three associations and in 2011 Eastern Suburbs Soccer Football Association introduced a medal in his honour for Footballer of the Year.

He remains an executive member of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. In this capacity he was instrumental in creating the Oceania Footballer of the Year Award.

In 2006 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to football and has been made a Life Member of Australian Football Media Association.