Jim Stynes Honoured At Inaugural Jeep ARFLI Awards

Another long and successful season for the Australian Rules Football League of Ireland comes to an end this coming saturday with the inaugural running of the Jeep ARFLI awards at the Harcourt Hotel in Dublin. The night will see a number of awards up for grabs, but unquestionably the one of most significance is the Best & Fairest medal for the Premiership Competition which has been named in honour of the late Jim Stynes. The decision to name the medal in the Dubliner’s honour was made at ARFLI’s last annual general meeting, before the tragic loss of the former Brownlow medal winner. The idea at the time was to honour his courage in battling cancer, few anticipated at the time that he would lose that battle. Just last month, both Irish teams paid tribute to Stynes by wearing Guernseys which bore a small Melbourne no 11 guernsey on the front, but the naming of this best and fairest medal ensures that the highest individual reward in Irish footy will forever honour the player who’s success inspired so many Irish people to take up the sport.

Other awards on the night include the Player’s Player of the year awards for men and women, club publication of the year award, the umpire of the year award and the club volunteer of the year award.