WHO WOULD’VE thought a picture taken of James Fahey handballing to fellow Irish recruit Jim Stynes back in 1984 would become so significant in the Melbourne Football Club’s history?
Not only was it the first time the duo had their picture taken on Australian soil, but it was the first time they were in Melbourne apparel.
Although it wasn’t the traditional Melbourne strip, it was a training jumper featuring major sponsor ‘Hertz’ across the front of it. And while Fahey would never don the Melbourne guernsey in a senior match, Stynes would became a great of the game, a legend of the club and one of his adopted country’s most admired figures of his generation.
With Stynes being honoured at Melbourne’s clash against Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Sunday, coincidentally and somewhat quirkily, the Demons will once again be reunited with the brand that Stynes adorned when he first arrived: Hertz.
Hertz Australia has rejoined Melbourne as a key sponsor: as the club’s official ball partner and coaches’ collar partner. And it will also appear on the MCG big screen when the Demons kick a goal.
Chief executive Cameron Schwab, who was assistant football manager to football manager Ray Manley and assisted in recruiting back in 1984, remembers the picture of Stynes and Fahey clearly.
“Our sponsor at the time was Hertz and I look at that photo with Jim and he clearly grew after the time he arrived. Jim often told the story, when he was staying with the Caddy family, his host family, that it was the first time in his life that he was asked the question ‘do you want some more food?’” he said.
“He’d never been asked that question before, so he thinks that the extra nutrition and food may have contributed to him growing. He arrived as a six foot four player and he played his first game at six foot seven.”
Schwab said he helped Stynes and Fahey settle into Melbourne.
“My job at the time was to find board for players and I had to find board for Jim and James Fahey, who came out with him,” he said.
“I had to find a family and it had to be a Catholic family. The Caddy family, who looked after Jim, came through Parade College at the time. He went and stayed with them.”
But Schwab remembers Stynes vividly in the Hertz jumper and recalled the story of new recruit wearing the training jumper in stifling heat.
“His first training run was in a woolly Hertz training jumper around the lake at Albert Park. We moved down to the Junction Oval in 1985, but we were just starting to use it at that stage,” he said.
“Jim was leading the run, straight off the plane, in a woolly Hertz jumper in the Melbourne heat and stopped as he was running, because he was worried that he was actually lost and he waited for someone to pass him and bring it home.
“He thought: ‘how come they’re wearing these woolly jumpers in the Melbourne heat? It was very hot for an Irishman.
“All clubs had them - the rabbits in terms of the pre-season, where you’d send them out for running. But here was this six foot-plus, giant leading the run and it was a sign of things to come.”
Not only was it the first time the duo had their picture taken on Australian soil, but it was the first time they were in Melbourne apparel.
Although it wasn’t the traditional Melbourne strip, it was a training jumper featuring major sponsor ‘Hertz’ across the front of it. And while Fahey would never don the Melbourne guernsey in a senior match, Stynes would became a great of the game, a legend of the club and one of his adopted country’s most admired figures of his generation.
With Stynes being honoured at Melbourne’s clash against Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Sunday, coincidentally and somewhat quirkily, the Demons will once again be reunited with the brand that Stynes adorned when he first arrived: Hertz.
Hertz Australia has rejoined Melbourne as a key sponsor: as the club’s official ball partner and coaches’ collar partner. And it will also appear on the MCG big screen when the Demons kick a goal.
Chief executive Cameron Schwab, who was assistant football manager to football manager Ray Manley and assisted in recruiting back in 1984, remembers the picture of Stynes and Fahey clearly.
“Our sponsor at the time was Hertz and I look at that photo with Jim and he clearly grew after the time he arrived. Jim often told the story, when he was staying with the Caddy family, his host family, that it was the first time in his life that he was asked the question ‘do you want some more food?’” he said.
“He’d never been asked that question before, so he thinks that the extra nutrition and food may have contributed to him growing. He arrived as a six foot four player and he played his first game at six foot seven.”
Schwab said he helped Stynes and Fahey settle into Melbourne.
“My job at the time was to find board for players and I had to find board for Jim and James Fahey, who came out with him,” he said.
“I had to find a family and it had to be a Catholic family. The Caddy family, who looked after Jim, came through Parade College at the time. He went and stayed with them.”
But Schwab remembers Stynes vividly in the Hertz jumper and recalled the story of new recruit wearing the training jumper in stifling heat.
“His first training run was in a woolly Hertz training jumper around the lake at Albert Park. We moved down to the Junction Oval in 1985, but we were just starting to use it at that stage,” he said.
“Jim was leading the run, straight off the plane, in a woolly Hertz jumper in the Melbourne heat and stopped as he was running, because he was worried that he was actually lost and he waited for someone to pass him and bring it home.
“He thought: ‘how come they’re wearing these woolly jumpers in the Melbourne heat? It was very hot for an Irishman.
“All clubs had them - the rabbits in terms of the pre-season, where you’d send them out for running. But here was this six foot-plus, giant leading the run and it was a sign of things to come.”
