James Hird Cup meets its namesake
By Alison Zell
The James Hird Cup is a Primary School AFL competition for Year 5 and 6 students in the ACT – the equivalent of the Pau Kelly Cup in NSW.
In 2012 there were 59 teams from 37 school and over 750 participants.
Named after former Essendon champion and now coach James Hird, the Cup is in it’s 16th year, with the James Hird Cup Grand Final to be held in Canberra on June 26.
Hird grew up in Canberra and played for the Ainslie Football Club before being drafted at pick 79 to the Essendon Bombers in the 1990 National Draft.
Hird is a legend of Essendon, a two-time Premiership player and captain of the club from 1998-2005. He won the 1996 Brownlow Medal and the 2000 Norm Smith Medal and is a member of the Essendon Team of the Century and the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
He has been coach of his old side since 2011 and was back in Sydney on Friday to coach the Bombers against the Swans in a blockbuster clash at a sold out SCG on Saturday.
Hird said he was proud to have grown up in the ACT.
“Canberra a great place to grow up and play footy, there’s so many opportunities to play sport,” Hird said.
“The ovals and the infrastructure are great, and I think there are a lot of good coaches there so I had a great time there.
“The Ainslie footy club is my footy club, they were a great footy club and they still are a great footy club.
“For the young kids in Canberra, footy’s a great game and there’s a lot of opportunities in Canberra to play.”
AFL NSW/ACT Deputy General Manager Craig Bolton, who also grew up in the nation’s capital, said Hird has had a profound influence on the growth of AFL in the ACT.
“It’s fantastic to have such an icon of the game lend his name to the biggest Primary School sport competition in the ACT,” Bolton said.
“Like me, James is a proud Canberran who is a great role model to many young ACT kids wanting to make it in the AFL.”
With former Bomber Mark McVeigh now working for the AFL in NSW and the ACT as a Talent and Coaching Manager, Hird said he will continue to pay special attention to talented young local footballers.
“We’ve always looked closely at NSW talent, and ACT talent,” Hird said.
“A lot of the guys come from less traditional football backgrounds, either playing soccer first or Rugby League or Rugby Union first and it brings a very different set of skills which actually helps them in this game.
“A lot of us who grew up in Canberra actually have to play a lot of the other sports and it gives you a really good perspective and different skills that enhance this game.”
