Born: Subiaco WA
24 April 1955
Earning a place in Australia’s soccer team as a West Australian based player was no easy task in the 1970s, with the State not having any national identity. So the effort of Perth’s Gary Marocchi to go on and captain the Australian team on the international stage was a meritorious achievement.
Marocchi, the first soccer inductee to the WA Hall of Champions, has a number of other firsts to his credit, including being the only player from WA to captain the national side, leading them twice in 1978, during a tour of Australia by Greece.
An attacking midfielder, he represented Australia 13 times, from 1975-78, including a memorable World Cup qualifying game against Iran, in front of a 100,000-strong local crowd from Tehran, in 1977, losing 1-0. Marocchi played for Western Australia 21 times, mainly in the Marah Halim Cup and against visiting international sides passing through Perth on tours of Australia.
A product of the Perth junior development programme, Marocchi made his senior debut at the age of 16 with Perth Azzurri from 1971-76 and again in 1983-84. In between those stints, Marocchi went to South Australia to play with Adelaide City in the national league, a move that gave him a higher Australian profile and also resulted in three matches for SA State team.
On his return to WA, he played a year with Inglewood Kiev (1985) and then finished his career in 1988 with Perth Italia.
A highly-credentialed coach, Marocchi continued his contribution to the sport through the 1990s, taking Perth Italia to the league championship in 1991-92-93 and also claimed the champions crown, when the Perth Kangaroos competed in the Singapore Premier League in 1994.
Marocchi notched another West Australian first when he took his coaching career to another level on Sunday, 13 October 1996, when the Perth Glory made their historic debut in the National Soccer League.