Jim Irvine

Jim Irvine was our first Olympian, he was a member of the national team that won the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was also a member of the team that finished fourth at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After his playing career he became a coach. Jim was the assistant coach of the Australian men at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where The Kookaburras finished third. Later on he went to the Netherlands, where he coached Amsterdam for three seasons (2001-2004) and won the Dutch title twice.

Jim Irvine began his playing career as 9 year old in 1958 and by 1962 as a 13 year old, Jim was playing under 15’s in the morning and C grade (club second team) in the afternoon. In 1963 the club’s first team won the A Reserve premiership (Jim played 4 games that year) and the team was promoted to A grade (the equivalent to Premier League).

In 1964 Jim played all season in A grade for Greensborough and this year he was the captain of the Victorian under 16’s. The following year, Jim was picked in the Victorian under 21 team (as a 16&17 year old). Jim’s first year playing for the Victorian senior team was in 1967. By now, Jim was 18 years old and Jim was to play for the Victorian senior team for the next 18 years. Jim continued to play for Greensborough until 1980 until moving to Yarra as the captain/coach until Jim retired from playing in 1984.

International career: 1969, 1973-1984, 168 internationals (more than 100 games as the vice captain) and scoring 68 goals.

Olympics: selected three times, Montreal 1976 (silver), Moscow 1980 (team withdrawn) and Los Angeles 1984 (fourth)

World Cup: Kuala Lumper 1975 (fifth), Buenos Aires 1978 (bronze), Bombay 1982 (bronze)

Awards: Sir Wilfred Kent Hughes Olympians medal 1976, finalist Age Victorian Sports start of the year 1976, Australian Sports Medal 2000