Johnny Watterson: Irish boxing standing on a funding precipice

Irish boxing has a chance to demonstrate intent that it’s mending its ways on July 10th. The infighting, bad faith undermining of world class coaches Bernard Dunne and Billy Walsh and the abysmal history of gender inequality at board level despite four current senior world champions, Lisa O’Rourke, Amy Broadhurst, Kellie Harrington and Katie Taylor all being women, has a chance to be put right. Again.

In Sunday’s egm, it has a chance to show that it does not want to continue to follow the lead of its governing body at international level, which in any measurable metric has been an abject failure to the sport and the boxers.

Even now after numerous threats from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that boxing could be withdrawn from the 2028 LA Olympic schedule the International Boxing Association (IBA) president and Gazprom enthusiast Russian Umar Kremlev, or is that Lutfuloev, plunged it into a fresh crisis after his sole rival, Dutch candidate Boris van der Vorst, was barred from standing on the eve of the IBA election.

Urgently needing change, Irish boxing is standing on a self-constructed precipice and how disconcerting it is to see names from the old regime, against whom Dunne made complaints, pledging wholehearted backing for a new regime.

Leinster vs Northampton: Kick-off time, TV details and team news ahead of Champions Cup semi-final

---

The full signs have gone up on Croker - now it’s over to Leinster

---

Some like it hot: Turning up the summer heat to train for the Paris Olympics

---

Darragh Ó Sé: How each county is shaping up as race for Sam Maguire kicks off

---

It begs the question whether Irish boxing is going to follow the comedy act of its international governing body and screw it up again, undermine the sport and restrain the clubs and boxers who rely on Government funding to exist and prosper.

In a statement yesterday from chief executive officer Fergal Carruth following a meeting this week with the Minister for Sport Jack Chambers, he outlined the issues that will arise in a few days’ time.

“The Irish Boxing Family faces a pivotal choice on July 10th, a choice which will affect how every club in Ireland evolves — that is, to embrace the highest standards of governance or face long-term damaging restrictions on our sport,” said the statement. It might have added the word “again” at the end.

It continues. “Delegates from Ireland’s 338 affiliated clubs will be asked to vote on the composition of the IABA’s board, expanding the board from its current 10 members to 12. If approved, this newly constituted board will include six independent members, along with athlete and coach representatives, whilst also addressing the lack of female representation on the board. The new board would then be tasked with deciding how to deal with the remaining recommendations in the recently published IABA Governance Review.

“The Minister has informed the Board of Directors that a decision to reject this change will mean an immediate 15 per cent cut in funding to the IABA, beginning this month. The IABA and clubs will not be able to access Dormant Accounts funding, or Sports Capital & Equipment Grants. Funding through local authorities will be curtailed and an increasing level of funding cuts will be introduced over the coming months. Sport Ireland Return to Sport grants, which this year enabled the IABA to pay the full insurance and affiliation costs for every affiliated club in Ireland, will no longer be available.”

This is the nuclear option for the Minister. No politician likes to threaten a sport that has a tradition of looking after the disadvantaged communities as boxing does. No Minister would wish to remove funding from an all-island body and cause a negative impact at grass roots level. It is against all instincts and there is a principled argument against taking such an action.

But the creature that boxing has become is a recidivist. Nothing was learned or changed or put in place that prevented the same thing happening to Dunne as happened to Walsh. Squalid, nasty, vile turf wars and power struggles, with little to no concern at all for the entire boxing edifice have played out.

The treatments of Walsh and Dunne 12 years later were as cruel and harmful as they were preposterous in a modern organisation. Even now the issues surrounding Dunne, who resigned in May and made a serious complaint against board members last year have not been resolved.

Minister Chambers is making the correct call and he must hold his nerve. It is still out of his hands and in making change there is an element of some turkeys having to vote for Christmas. The wonder is whether boxing has the aptitude to do that and if it has the foresight to put its most influential ambassadors, the boxers, ahead of the wishes of some to remain an organisation rooted in confrontational, frayed conventions and the thinking of another era.

The bar for choosing a clear road forward for Irish Boxing is a high one — 60 voting delegates must attend the EGM in order for it to take place. Seventy-five per cent of that electorate must vote to embrace Motion One for it to pass.

Carruth rightly points out that many clubs are “fatigued by conflict” although those people centrally involved in the conflict appear to remain energetic.

“The consequences of choosing not to reform, or choosing not to enter our second phase, are grim,” says the statement. The Minister for Sport has been very clear — boxing will face funding cuts. Boxing will be constrained.”

Bleak language for O’Rourke, Broadhurst, Harrington and those who hope to follow.