Football: All White great Grant Turner dies after long illness

(L-R) Kevin Fallon, Grant Turner and Kenny Cresswell of the winning 1982 All Whites squad gather before the FIFA World Cup Qualifying match in 2009. Photo / Getty Images.

Former All White Grant Turner has passed away this morning after battling a long illness.

Turner was one of the key figures in the fabled team that reached the 1982 Fifa World Cup. He was 64.

Turner revealed to the Herald in 2021 that he was facing a battle with cancer.

After making his debut in the famous 4-0 win over Mexico 1980, the Hutt Valley product soon became one of the first picked.

There was an undoubted physical side to his game, but also so much more, and only striker Brian Turner managed more goals than his eight on the Road to Spain.

His most famous goal was the second against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in May 1981, which sealed the most important transtasman win in All Whites history.

Grant Turner attacking the goal as New Zealand beat Indonesia 5-0 in an elimination game at Mt Smart Stadium for the 1982 Soccer World Cup, 23 May 1981. Photo / Anthony Phelps

Turner also scored a vital goal in front of 95,000 people in Jakarta, and against Australia at Mt Smart, among others, while his wholehearted approach endeared himself to Kiwis across the sporting spectrum, fascinated by this fearless 21-year-old taking on the world.

A serious ankle injury ruined his dreams of playing in Spain and hopes of a European contract.

Overall, his strike rate in ‘A’ internationals topped one every three games, and he pulled on the All White shirt 71 times.

Turner retired from the All Whites in 1988 — after a heavy concussion against Israel at Eden Park — but continued with club football until 2002, when he was 42.