Andrew Dettre passed away last month at 91 years of age but his legacy and contribution to Australian football still remains today.

Dettre was born in born in Hungary and arrived in Australia in 1948 after fleeing his war-torn country and began what would be a lifelong pursuit to promote the world game in his new homeland.

Earlier this year Dettre’s contribution to football saw him inducted into the FFA Hall of Fame.

His son Steven Dettre told FourFourTwo that his father’s impact went beyond words on a page.

“He told me that his proudest contribution was his push for the National Soccer League,” he said.

“He kept pushing those club presidents and it wasn’t an easy thing but they finally said, ‘yes let’s do it.’

“His other proudest moment was helping create the groundwork for the Australian Institute of Sport.

"To him it’s his greatest contribution to sport and that’s what he’s immensely proud of.

“There is still some legacies that are continuing from that period such as the Australia Sports Commission.”

Andrew Dettre’s passion for football saw him write for the Daily Telegraph, World Soccer in London, the French sports daily L’Equipe, Soccer World and Soccer Action in Melbourne.

Steven Dettre says more people should know how many journalists his father inspired.

“It’s important to know the foundations that Johnny Warren, Les Murray and Michael Cockerill built their careers on,” he said.

“It just didn’t happen out of the blue. I used to talk to Michael Cockerill all the time and he used to say the biggest influence on his career was reading what dad was writing in Soccer World.

“The same thing with Les and Andy Paschalidis. Dad gave Andy his start in journalism as a cadet at Australian Soccer Weekly.

“But dad was never really into accolades or glory, he did it for his own personal gratification and he was very proud of what he did in contributing towards Australian football and where it is today.”

Joe Gorman’s book The Death and Life of Australian Soccer includes many examples of Andrew Dettre’s unique prose that combined sharp wit, poetry and humour, such as this summation of the local game:

“This sad tribal compound in which soccer exists accommodates genuine zealots, verified madmen, innocent idealists, mercenary opportunists, egomaniacs, loud-mouth dilettantes, pro and anti-ethnics, a few conmen and a fairly large number of amazed bystanders.”

Gorman told FourFourTwo that he included Andrew Dettre as a main character in the book because his story personifies Australian football.

“His writing is incredibly relevant to the  journey of the game and where it is today,” he said.

Source: Mark Boric

“He had numerous ideas - the most important being summer soccer which he pushed relentlessly against the wishes of his fellow journalists, and administrators of the day.

“He also ventured into the question of Australian multiculturalism better than any other writer I’ve ever read. Such as this quote in chapter three where he says:

'Migrants are perfectly entitled to form whatever association or union they want, be that a church choir, welfare agency, scout group, or soccer team. The trouble lies elsewhere, Australians (born here) are perfectly entitled to ignore these. And they do.'

“That quote sums up the entire multicultural paradox of Australian soccer and he is an incredible person for people to re-read his work now.”

Steven Dettre said he was pleased that his contribution to Australian football was acknowledged so heavily in Gorman’s book.

“The whole family was very proud,” he said. “It was gratifying to see some recognition for all the work that dad has done in football but all the work in sport.

“We are just immensely proud of him, we are very humbled and gratified that Joe put so much effort into it. He really analysed where football has sat in Australian sporting culture.”