Jim Stynes, the Dublin-born Aussie Rules legend, will be immortalised with a bronze statue outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, home of his beloved Melbourne FC.
Melbourne Cricket Club President Paul Sheahan said it was "fitting that 30 years after the Gaelic footballer was recruited from Dublin, we announce Jim Stynes' induction into the Australia Post Avenue of Legends series".
“A true gentleman of the game, Stynes is an exceptional individual whose achievements as a non-Australian-born player remain unmatched," he said. "There is no doubt that he is one of the most extraordinary and inspiring figures in the history of Australian sport.”
Stynes will be the fifth icon of Australian sport to have a statue on the "Avenue of Legends" outside the historic stadium. He will join cricketers Shane Warne and Neil Harvey, as well as footballing greats Norm Smith and John Coleman.
Stynes played 264 games for Melbourne and played a record 244 consecutive games between 1987 and 1998. In 1991 he became the first non-Australian to win the prestigious Brownlow Medal.
He founded the Reach foundation in 1994, a non-profit youth work organisation aimed primarily at empowering disadvantaged children.
He died in 2012 after a long battle with cancer, and was honoured with a Victorian state funeral in Melbourne.
[The Age]
H/T: Mark Geary
