Words by Merryn Sherwood (The Canberra Times 14/05/09)
Jimmy Hayes probably wouldn’t have wanted anyone to make a fuss but the Canberra soccer community paid tribute yesterday to a pioneer of the game in the ACT.
Hayes died yesterday morning in hospital, aged 80. He was a player and coach in some of the very first ACT clubs but his biggest role came in setting up junior clubs in the ACT.
Hayes helped form the Majura Soccer Club where he club house in Dickson is now named the Jimmy Hayes pavilion. Yesterday club president Rhonda Parkin said Hayes was just always there to help out.
“He always used to say, ‘I don’t want anyone making a fuss’, all he did wasn’t for his benefit, he was just there for the love of the children and the game,” she said.
“He was just always around to help out.”
Hayes came to Canberra in 1955 from England and played with the Napad club. He captained the ACT senior representative team that year. Hayes started his coaching career the year after as a captain and coach of Hollandia. He coached the ACT representative team and in the mid-80s coached Olympic and Belconnen in the ACT top competition to title wins. But Hayes’s foremost love was helping juniors with the game. Hayes set up the first junior team in Canberra – the Ainslie Rovers. In 1991 he became director of coaching at the ACT Football Federation where he worked for six years. Hayes was a member of the Capital Football Hall of Fame.
Terry Hayes said his father spread football’s message widely.
“He was a janitor at Hughes primary and he just started bringing a ball for the kids to play with at lunch and those numbers just grew and grew and then they started entering teams in the local competitions,” Terry Hayes said.
“He wanted to see junior football improve, he liked seeing kids enjoying the game.” Chris Conti – who managed the ACTAS program while Hayes was director of coaching – said Hayes inspired many young players to a life-time involvement in football.
“He was a terrific man and a real inspiration,” Conti said.
“He was extremely supportive of every kid and not just the elite kids, he just wanted to help develop young football players of all levels.”
Capital Football’s coaching director Ian Shaw also paid tribute.
“He was a fantastic mentor, a fantastic person and what just came across was how much respect he had for every person that he coached,” Shaw said.
He is survived by sons Alan, Pat, Danny and Terry and 10 grandchildren as well as six great grand children.
