Murdoch financed Stynes’ Oz move

A former high-ranking official of the Melbourne Demons club has revealed that the so-called Irish experiment that began with the club recruiting Jim Stynes, Sean Wight and Paul Earley, was financed largely by media mogul, Rupert Murdoch.

Dick Seddon, who was chief executive of the Demons, as well as a founding member of the Victorian Football League commission — the precursor to the AFL — is currently working on a history of the Irish programme, and in particular, the recruitment of Dubliner Stynes.

“It was such a high-risk strategy, I couldn’t justify spending Melbourne funds on it,” said Seddon.