Melbourne AI company Affinda has appointed former Australian Football League great James Hird as global head of Affinda Sports. Hird will lead the effort to bring the company's AI tools to sporting organizations worldwide. His role covers governing bodies, clubs, associations, and commercial partners.
Hird's role
Affinda said Hird brings more than 30 years of experience in sports and business. He will work with product and engineering teams to find where AI can have the biggest impact. The teams will turn those opportunities into practical tools for sporting bodies.
Company background
Affinda was founded in Melbourne in 2012 by brothers Tim Toner and Ben Toner. The company began by helping recruitment businesses such as SEEK extract candidate information from resumes. It now owns legal technology business Draftable, whose software is used by more than 1,300 legal teams.
AI for sports
Affinda builds AI products that turn unstructured data into usable information. In sports, the company connects match video, training load, and other performance data for coaches and high-performance staff. The goal is to support better decisions during competition and across fan engagement, membership, and commercial operations.
Hird starts in the role this week. Affinda said he will help sporting organizations turn their existing data into practical decisions. The company sees a global opportunity to help teams improve performance and drive commercial growth.