Jim Stynes has passed away this morning at his home after a long battle with cancer, aged 45.
Sad news.
[color="#000000"]Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam .
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/melbourne-demons/jim-stynes-dead-at-45-20120320-1vgdr.html
Very sad, I thought he’d beat it…
RIP
That’s really shit news. Farewell Big Jim. One of Dublin’s grestest exports.
RIP
RIP, a hero and gentleman.
RIP, read an autobiography/biography a good few years back and hadn’t a great impression of him afterwards, but the way he has battled cancer the past few years has been incredibly courageous and i have great admiration for him. May he rest in peace.
RIP
RIP Jim. I didnt know much about him until I saw that documentary a good while back. The true definition of a fighter.
RIP
RIP
RIP, a hero among men. 
RIP
An inspirational man
RIP. leaves a young family behind too, desperately sad.
Rip
Ah that’s shite. RIP Jim. His documentary was inspirational for anyone who’s been close to a cancer patient. Thoughts have to be with his family. Fair play to the man for prolonging his life long enough to show a level of determination that most people would think is impossible from someone in that condition. I could have nothing but utter respect for him for what he tried to do and how he conducted himself in the public eye while suffering.
Stynes’ passion sparks international resolve
Rohan Connolly
March 20, 2012 - 9:59AM
The Age football writer Rohan Connolly was privy to one of Jim Stynes’ most inspiring speeches during a trip to Ireland with the Australian International Rules squad. This is the story that appeared in The Sunday Age on October 24, 2004.
If Australia wins the second international rules Test at Croke Park, it will be a victory born not of a particular goal or tackle, or even a decisive burst of football, but an evening spent at a 12th century castle in Ireland’s west four days ago.
The Australian squad arrived at Ashford Castle last Wednesday still reeling not only from the 36-point hammering it had taken at the hands of the Irish the previous Sunday, but the pasting it had received in the Irish media, and just about any local who came into contact with the touring party in the days that followed.
This was a country clearly revelling in the turning of the tables on an opponent that, over the previous few years, increasingly had appeared to have its measure. It was the depth of satisfaction in that reversal of fortunes that took many of the Australians aback.
Come the next morning, however, it was one which every single member of what is a pretty young and relatively inexperienced playing group could understand a lot better.
Footballers hear a lot of addresses, pre-match, post-match, during breaks in games. But seldom, if ever, can any of this 26-strong playing group have heard a speech as inspiring as that delivered by match committee member and favourite son of Ireland and Australia, Jim Stynes, during a team dinner in the imposing surrounds of the magnificent Ashford Castle, 40 kilometres south of Galway, on Wednesday evening.
When Stynes was introduced to speak by Australian coach Garry Lyon, none had any idea what they were about to hear.
In fact, football was barely mentioned for the next 20-odd minutes. Instead, the Brownlow medallist told them about struggle and resilience. About that of his native land, against religious and racial oppression over centuries, about the disastrous potato famine of 1845-50, which in only a few years reduced this country’s population from more than eight million people to just five million, and about that of his own family.
Stynes’ uncle Joe had kicked the two critical points to give his Dublin team victory over arch-rival Kerry in the 1923 All-Ireland Gaelic football final. Soon after, he was jailed for his involvement with the IRA as hostility between Ireland’s “free staters” and republicans intensified.
While in jail, Joe Stynes learnt to play soccer, forbidden for members of the highly politicised Gaelic Athletic Association. When he was released, he continued to play both, until a week before his next All-Ireland final appearance, when he was arrested again, this time for playing the supposed “English” game, and banned from Gaelic football for life.
With about 100 people hanging on every word, Stynes told of the failed 1916 Easter uprising against the ruling British, and of how one of its ringleaders, James Connolly, badly wounded in the fighting, was taken from hospital and to Kilmainham jail on a stretcher, then strapped to a chair so he could sit upright long enough to be executed by firing squad.
A couple of dozen high-profile footballers normally more obsessed with the here and now and the bubble of their AFL existence sat as transfixed and silent as any group of young people I have ever seen.
Then Stynes, unaccompanied, began to sing, his voice bursting with passion, the song written about the death of the Irish hero, finishing with the lines: “But above all the din rose the cry ‘no surrender’; 'Twas the voice of James Connolly, the Irish rebel.”
As he walked back to his seat, the crowd rose spontaneously to applaud, the eyes of even these brash young sportsmen brimming with tears. Days later, the Australian players were still talking about it in awe.
“When you see someone talk about their country with such pride and put their heart into it like that, it’s amazing,” Australian vice-captain Nathan Brown said later.
“That song he sung in front of everyone without any backing or instruments, is probably one of the bravest things I’ve seen someone do. It was a great speech and so uplifting. I didn’t really know much about Irish culture, and what had happened here. It’s an amazing plight they’ve been through. It’s no wonder they’re so patriotic.”
What was Stynes’ message to his players? “I think it’s that they have got an opportunity to demonstrate their character and substance this weekend, and what they really stand for,” he said. “When your back is against the wall (literally, in Connolly’s case), that’s when you see people step up and when real character comes to the fore. That’s when you earn respect.”
It was a message in keeping with Australia’s mission this week, to win back that respect the Irish media and public now so patently appear to have lost for a sporting outfit normally renowned for its spirit and passion.
“I wanted to communicate to these (players) that most of them won’t have this opportunity again,” Stynes said.
“When you’re really young, it’s easy to not live the moment. Then, when you get older, you realise you had a really great opportunity and missed it because you didn’t realise what it meant, you hadn’t evolved as a human being to the point where you could really appreciate it. I suppose I just wanted them to appreciate where they were at right now.”
Stynes said he felt humbled by the enormous reaction from the players. “For a lot of the younger guys to come up and say what they got out of it really did mean something to me,” he said.
“I’m not into sportsman’s nights and all that. My purpose in this world isn’t about entertaining people. I believe it’s about trying to make some sort of difference, to increase awareness, so for the younger crew to come up and say they really appreciated that, makes me hope, without being egotistical, that in some way I’ve helped contribute to them going from being boys to men.”
And while the second Test will tell the true story, it was hard not to think, watching the expressions of the Australian squad during an unforgettable moment of oratory, and their subsequent resolve on the training track this week, that Stynes might have in no small way contributed also to the winning of another great struggle on the Croke Park pitch.
Note: Ireland went on to beat a much-improved Australian team 55-41 in the second international rules Test, claiming the Cormac McAnallen Cup. Australia reclaimed the trophy with two victories in the return series in Australia in 2005.