Tania Hird opens up on family, fame, footy, good character and hero worship
A notoriously private Tania Hird is opening up about family, footy and the downside of fame and hero worship, revealing the one “annoying” thing she would do during her time in the AFL ranks.
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Tania Hird has opened up about family, footy, fame and the importance of good character.
Hird shares four children with former Essendon champion James Hird – the couple split last year – all of who are deeply involved in sport.
Tom Hird is playing VFL, Alex Hird plays soccer for the Melbourne Knights, Stephanie Hird is competing in half Ironman competitions and William Hird is playing NPL soccer for Port Melbourne.
Hird has spoken on Libbi Gorr’s Red Card For Mummy soccer podcast about raising elite athletes to have good character and a good sense of self, and to be aware that fame and celebrity is superficial.
“I don’t love fame to be honest,” Hird told Gorr.
“I love people being good at things and I think that my assessment of people is when they are great characters, have terrific integrity, principles, whether they care for others; the fame comes with things when you do them well.”
Hird said it was important for people pursuing elite sport to have interests outside of their game because their sporting career could end at any time.
“Every elite sports person has a finite career and that is whether they are taken out through injury, whether they need to stop because they have had too many concussions, whether a sliding door moment has not gone their way, whether they have a full career and then at the end of it, it is over,” she said.
“Whatever they do, there is a point at which there is going to be an end and there is a point at which that career is over and they need to have something else to go on with.
“It is really tricky for parents, I think it is tricky for partners, there is a lot of support that goes on, but for the players themselves, I guess what I think is most important is balance.
“You don’t want someone’s complete identity to be tied up in one thing and that does not have to be just sport.”
Hird said during her time in the AFL club ranks, and also with her children’s sport, she has always encouraged people to have side interests and a back up plan.
“I use to be the annoying person at the football, particularly, but I would do it at soccer too, (asking) ‘what else are you studying?’ or ‘are you doing a trade?’, or ‘are you thinking of your future?’ because eventually it will finish,” she said.
“I even said it as a player’s wife.”
Hird said for parents of children chasing an elite sporting dream it was important to keep things real and instil a sense of balance.
“An elite sports person can get to the point where they are so revered in society, which is another problem, they don’t need to make conversation with people,” she told the Red Card for Mummy podcast.
“They don’t ever go to a job interview and miss out. There are a whole lot of things that normal people in life have to go through which build resilience.
“It is a slightly unrealistic environment (and) we do need to give them balance, we need to give them coping mechanisms. …….. Keep a balance as much as you can, make it real for them.
“My four still have to pick up the dog’s messes and help me with the vacuuming of the floor and emptying the dishwasher.
“Nobody is too good for anything, don’t get cocky, keep your feet on the ground, pursue different things, look after people, do the right thing.”
She added: “An interesting thing I have learned through footy and soccer, (is) the amount of adults who say to me ‘somebody is a hero’ and you think how can somebody be your hero as a fully grown adult when you don’t know them, because you don’t know how they operate, you don’t know how they care for others.
“Just because they play a sport to a certain level does not make somebody a hero.
“They might be exceptional at a particular thing, they might be a legend in that sport, but it does not change who they are. Who they are is what is actually important.”
Hird is an ex-lawyer and is the founder of HairFlair Aus and Tania Hird Designs.
Her Red Card for Mummy podcast episode is released on April 3.
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