Jim Stynes
James Peter Stynes was an Irish footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football and the first international player to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League, he was one of the game's most prominent figures, setting the record for most consecutive games of VFL/AFL football with 244 and winning the sport's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal, in 1991. Off the field, he was a notable AFL administrator, philanthropist, charity worker and writer.
Career
During his 264-game career playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League between 1987 and 1998, Stynes became the first and only non-Australian-born VFL/AFL player to win the Brownlow Medal, which he achieved in 1991.Stynes was quite famous in both Australia and Ireland as a result of his involvement in the Melbourne Football Club's international recruitment program. Born in Dublin, Ireland, where he was a promising Gaelic footballer at the Ballyboden St Enda's club, Stynes made a move to Australia at the age of 18 following his county team's victory in the 1984 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship.
Debuting in the Australian Football League in 1987, he played 244 consecutive games between 1987 and 1998 as a mobile ruckman, a league record that was held for 27 years. Along with his Brownlow Medal, his Australian rules achievements included the Leigh Matthews Trophy, two-time All-Australian team selection, a Grand Final appearance in 1988, and a four-time winner of the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal for being judged Melbourne's best player throughout the course of a season. He also represented Victoria in interstate football matches, and he played for both Australia and Ireland in international rules football, a hybrid of Gaelic football and Australian rules football.
Following his football career, Stynes focused on youth work, using his profile to launch The Reach Foundation, which he co-founded in 1994. As a result of his work with young people in Victoria, he was named Victorian of the Year twice, in 2001 and 2003, and with the expanded profile of Reach nationally, awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2007.
Stynes also served as president of the Melbourne Football Club from 2008 and was involved in fundraising efforts which brought the club out of debt. In 2009, Stynes was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma and continued to work during his treatment for brain metastasis. He died in March 2012 and was honoured by a state funeral held at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne on 27 March 2012.
Early life
Stynes was born in Dublin, Ireland, to a Roman Catholic family, the eldest son of Brian and Teresa Stynes, one of six siblings.He grew up in Rathfarnham.
He attended Ballyroan Boys National School. He began playing Gaelic football at the age of eight. From age nine, he played at Ballyboden St Enda's at under-11s level. He attended high school at De La Salle College, Churchtown, where he played rugby union while continuing to play Gaelic football for his club alongside his younger brother, Brian.
His first exposure to Australian rules football was watching the 1980 film The Club on television. Stynes represented Dublin in 1984, at the age of eighteen, and was on Dublin's winning side in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship.
Stynes aspired to a college education; however, he lacked the means and was earning just $10 a week delivering newspapers.
Later in his life, he graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science degree and a Diploma in Youth Work from RMIT University; additionally, he earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Deakin University. He was later awarded with the honorary degree of Doctor of the University from the Australian Catholic University.
Switch to Australian rules football
In 1984, Stynes responded to an advertisement in his local paper placed by the Melbourne Football Club that offered two scholarships with all expenses paid to play Australian rules football and attend university in Victoria, Australia. Applicants were required to be under 18, over 183 cm and at county standard.Tall and slim, Stynes was selected, along with James Fahey, and brought to Victoria to undergo a crash course in Australian rules. He signed a two-year contract, hoping to use the money to fund his way through college. Stynes was promised accommodation with an additional $60 weekly stipend, clothing, and $50 a game. He arrived in Australia on 7 November 1984.
Stynes debuted for the Melbourne under-19s team in 1985 and finished the season runner-up in the best and fairest. Ray Jordon, a coach who was experienced with talented juniors, worked intensively with Stynes, and he was sent to Victorian Football Association's Prahran Football Club to compete at senior level.
VFL/AFL career
Stynes made his senior debut for the Melbourne Demons in 1987 against Geelong at Kardinia Park. Two weeks later, he played in the Night Series Final against the Essendon Bombers. The Demons' thrilling 4-point victory over the Bombers gave the club its first silverware in 23 years.Later in 1987, Stynes was part of the senior side which won their last six matches of the home-and-away season to finish in 5th place and qualify for Melbourne's first finals series since 1964. The Demons were cast as a Cinderella team, winning their first two finals by huge margins in front of huge, frenzied crowds. They were just seconds away from an unlikely Grand Final appearance, leading Hawthorn in the Preliminary Final by 4 points when a free kick was awarded to Gary Buckenara fifty metres from goal. Stynes ran through the mark as the final siren sounded; it was an error which resulted in a 15-metre penalty and brought the Hawk forward within range. Buckenara scored the goal, giving his team a two-point win and ending Melbourne's fairytale charge to the premiership.
Stynes managed to put this costly mistake behind him. He cemented his position in Melbourne's senior team in 1988 and drew praise for his consistent play and for his innate skills and ability. He played in all 26 games, including the Grand Final versus Hawthorn. Despite his team losing to the Hawks by 96 points, Stynes performed admirably and he was judged to be Melbourne's best player that day.
In 1991, Stynes enjoyed the finest individual season of his career. With his fitness level at an all-time high and four years of experience under his belt, he took his game to another level, dominating the season with a league-best 214 marks. Many of these were taken thanks to his canny reading of the play. He repeatedly intercepted the opposition's long kicks forward with towering marks across the half-back line. He was installed as a hot favourite to win the Brownlow Medal after averaging an astounding 30.6 disposals and 11 marks per game over the final 8 rounds. Stynes polled 25 votes to win the 1991 Brownlow Medal, five votes clear of his nearest rivals. He remains the only non-Australian-born player to receive game's most prestigious individual honour. He was also awarded the AFL Players Association MVP trophy, was named the All-Australian ruckman, and won his first club best-and-fairest award for Melbourne.
Media commentators noted that Stynes had used his extraordinary endurance to redefine the role of the professional ruckman. While many of his opponents were over 2 metres tall, Stynes played in the style of a tall ruck-rover. Instead of focusing on hitouts and playing in bursts, he ran the whole game and gained possession across the entire ground. This was a model of play which many other mid-sized ruckmen such as Geelong and Essendon's John Barnes were able to successfully follow.
An exceptional run of consecutive games which had begun in Round 18 of 1987 almost ended with a severe rib injury in 1993 that Stynes sustained from a collision with teammate David Neitz in a match against the North Melbourne Football Club. He was treated at Epworth Hospital for a compound rib fracture. Despite being ruled out by medical officers for six weeks, he convinced his coach Neil Balme to pass him in the club fitness test and wore a chest guard in order to play the following Friday night.
Stynes finished the season with his consecutive games record unblemished and achieved All-Australian selection for the second time. In 1994, he suffered a medial ligament tear but continued to play through it, going on to string together three fine seasons between 1995 and 1997 in which he won consecutive club champion awards. In Round 9, 1996, Stynes played his 205th consecutive game, breaking the 53-year record held by Jack Titus since 1943.
Stynes broke his hand early in the 1998 season, effectively ending his streak of consecutive games finally at 244. He retired from professional football at the conclusion of the season, having played a total of 264 AFL games, all at Melbourne, placing him second on the club's all-time games tally at the time.
Statistics
| Led the league after season and finals |
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1991
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1992
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1994
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1995
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1997
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1998
! colspan=3| Career
! 264
! 130
! 97
! 3242
! 1743
! 4985
! 1516
! 189
! 3110
! 0.5
! 0.4
! 12.3
! 6.6
! 18.9
! 5.7
! 0.7
! 11.8