 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2012) |
| Sport | Amateur boxing |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | IABA |
| Founded | 1911 |
| President | Gerry O' Mahony |
| Official website | |
| www | |
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association Ltd. (IABA) is the national governing body for amateur boxing on the island of Ireland, developing and controlling the sport. Founded in 1911, the IABA operates from the National Stadium in Dublin, the only purpose built amateur boxing stadium in the world.[ citation needed ]
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association organises, develops, fosters and controls amateur boxing across Ireland (including Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland); it is the national governing body (NGB) for amateur boxing. Boxing clubs in Ireland are represented and supported at county, provincial and national level. Boxing clubs affiliate to the IABA and are then entitled to compete at each of these three levels.
The IABA has established six 'provincial councils' for Ulster, Leinster, Connacht, Munster, Antrim, and Dublin. Although Antrim and Dublin are not among the four traditional provinces of Ireland, separate councils were set up due to large volumes of boxing clubs in these two areas. Each county in Ireland is also represented by its own 'county board'.
The association was originally called the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. It led a nomadic existence, holding events, tournaments and boxing shows at many different venues. With the popularity of amateur boxing surging amongst the working class population, it was decided that a headquarters for the IABA and amateur boxing was required.
In 1935, Dep.Commissioner WRE Murphy first proposed a boxing stadium. In 1937, the IABA proposed to construct a stadium solely for the purposes of boxing. The cost of building the National Stadium was over £12,000 (IEP), a considerable sum at the time. WRE Murphy and wife Mary Agnes Murphy raised 1/3 of the funds through private fundraising events. Mary Agnes gained prior experience in fundraising events in San Francisco when she worked with Monsignor John Rogers.
In 1939, the National Stadium, located in Dublin, was completed and officially opened. WRE Murphy was recognized by Ulick O'Connor as the father of Irish boxing and earned 3 lifetime seats at the stadium. The stadium was later renovated and modernized in 2000.
The National Stadium is the only purpose-built boxing stadium in the world. The Stadium is still managed by the IABA and has been in use for national and international boxing events ever since its official opening. The High Performance Unit is based at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, Dublin 12.
The IABA changed its company name from Irish Amateur Boxing Association to Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) in January 2016, following a directive issued by AIBA, the international governing body, to all National Boxing Federations to remove the word 'Amateur' from the name of each individual Federation. [1] [2]
Michael Carruth, Katie Taylor, and Kellie Harrington are the only Irish boxers to win a gold medal in the sport. Michael Carruth won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and exactly 20 years to the week later, Katie Taylor won gold at the London 2012 Olympics. She was the first Irish woman to qualify and compete in an Olympic boxing event. Taylor won her Olympic debut over Great Britain's Natasha Jonas with a 26–15 score. An International Olympic Committee official said that the decibels hit 113.7 – the highest crowd levels recorded at London 2012 so far. [3] Paddy Barnes made history in 2012 by being the first Irish boxer to ever win two Olympic Medals at two consecutive Olympics – only two Irish athletes have managed this. The team that represented Irish boxing at the London 2012 Olympics has been the most successful IABA boxing Olympic Team since the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The London 2012 team consisted of:
In October 2015 the head coach of the IABA's High Performance Unit, Billy Walsh, left for the US to train the USA women's team. [4] Although discussions on a new contract for Walsh had been on-going for several months, Walsh claimed the IABA "changed their stance on virtually every detail" of a new contract offer. [5] The Irish Sports Council (Sport Ireland) publicly blamed the IABA for the loss of Walsh. The IABA, in return, refuted what it called the "disgraceful allegations" of Sports Ireland and claimed that Walsh left for financial reasons, and that Sports Ireland was using this loss to take control of the IABA's High Performance Unit. [6]
Ireland's performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics boxing events was unsuccessful, with Ireland not featuring in any medal positions, despite having a number of seeded boxers. The USA women's team had its best performance ever.[ citation needed ]
In 2017 Sport Ireland published a review, the ‘Rio Review’, which said the boxing team's performance at the 2016 Games was not ‘a blip in an otherwise outstanding success story’ but the result of ‘underlying failings in the high performance programme.’ The 212-page review on Ireland's Olympic and Paralympic campaigns also said blaming the departure of head coach Billy Walsh, questionable judging decisions and a positive drugs test only masked ‘the real root causes.’ The Irish Athletic Boxing Association's (IABA) high performance funding for 2017 was cut by €200,000. [7] Disagreements among senior members of the IABA has led to warnings from Sport Ireland that further steps will be taken against the IABA. [8]
Successful Irish boxer Bernard Dunne (13 Irish amateur championships and the WBA Super Bantamweight world title in 2009) was appointed director of the high-performance unit in April 2017. The IABA also announced that their High Performance Unit would move to the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus on a permanent basis following the completion of an agreement with the Sport Ireland Institute. [9]
In the following month the feud both within the IABA and with Sport Ireland flared up again, with two people claiming to be the chairman of the IABA: Dublin barrister Joe Christle and Waterford's David O’Brien. [8] O'Brien claimed that a meeting of the board of directors was held on 27 March, which Joe Christle did not attend. The IABA president Pat Ryan did attend. O'Brien claimed that he was voted in as the chairman of the board of directors, as Christle's time on the board had finished, and he (O'Brien) called for both Christle and the CEO of the IABA, Fergal Carruth, to step down. Christle, in turn, claimed that the vote taken at that meeting was invalid, as there were insufficient members present to form a quorum. Joe Christle was recognised by Sport Ireland, while five members of the board of directors approved David O’Brien as an alternative chairman, leading to deep divisions within the body. [10]
On 7 June both the minister for sport, Patrick O'Donovan, and John Treacy, Sport Ireland chief executive, said they recognised Christle as chairman. They set a 30th of June deadline for the IABA to get its act together and introduce a new rule book, which would ensure the autonomy of the High Performance Unit and ensure Dunne's sole right to make team selections in keeping with recommendations made in the post-Olympic ‘Rio Review’. In response, the following day IABA president Ryan penned a strongly-worded letter to Christle, criticising many of Christle's recent decisions as well as outlining concerns in relation to the organisation's current leadership, among other issues. [11] [ full citation needed ]
One day later the IABA board of directors (a majority of whom supported Christle's position as chairman) published a statement replying to Pat Ryan's letter, which had been leaked. The statement was posted on the IABA website. The board members emphasised that they had received legal advice to support Christle's position as chairman. The board's statement also reiterated their intention to introduce a new IABA Rule Book as demanded by Sport Ireland. [12]
| Olympic Games | Year | Location | Medal | Weight | Boxer | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1952 |  Helsinki |  Silver | Bantam | John McNally | White City BC |
| 2nd | 1956 |  Melbourne | Silver | Welter | Fred Tiedt | N/A |
| 3rd | 1956 | Melbourne |  Bronze | Fly | John Caldwell | N/A |
| 4th | 1956 | Melbourne | Bronze | Bantam | Fred Gilroy | N/A |
| 5th | 1956 | Melbourne | Bronze | Light | Tony Byrne | N/A |
| 6th | 1964 |  Tokyo | Bronze | Light | Jim McCourt | N/A |
| 7th | 1980 |  Moscow | Bronze | Fly | Hugh Russell | N/A |
| 8th | 1992 |  Barcelona |  Gold | Welter | Michael Carruth | Drimnagh BC |
| 9th | 1992 | Barcelona | Silver | Bantam | Wayne McCullough | N/A |
| 10th | 2008 |  Beijing | Silver | Light Heavy | Kenneth Egan | Neilstown BC |
| 11th | 2008 | Beijing | Bronze | Middle | Darren Sutherland | St Saviours BC |
| 12th | 2008 | Beijing | Bronze | Light Fly | Paddy Barnes | Holy Family BC |
| 13th | 2012 |  London | Silver | Bantam | John Joe Nevin | Cavan BC |
| 14th | 2012 | London | Gold | Light | Katie Taylor | Bray BC |
| 15th | 2012 | London | Bronze | Fly | Michael Conlan (boxer) | St. John Bosco BC |
| 16th | 2012 | London | Bronze | Light Fly | Paddy Barnes | Holy Family BC |
| 17th | 2021 | Tokyo | Gold | Light Welter | Kellie Harrington | St Mary's BC |
| 18th | 2021 | Tokyo | Bronze | Welter | Aidan Walsh (boxer) | Emerald ABC |
Michael Carruth is a southpaw Irish Olympic boxer from Dublin. He is best known for winning the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He turned Pro in 1994 but retired in 2000.
Sport in Ireland plays an important role in Irish society. The many sports played and followed in Ireland include Gaelic games, association football, horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, handball, motorsport, boxing, tennis, hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, and rugby union.
Representation of the island of Ireland at the British Empire Games has varied:
Bernard Dunne is an Irish former professional boxer and a former WBA (Regular), and European Super Bantamweight champion.
John McNally was an Irish boxer who won a silver medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in the bantamweight division. In the final McNally lost a split decision to Pentti Hämäläinen of Finland.
The National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, is the only purpose-built boxing stadium in the world. Major General WRE Murphy, Deputy Commissioner of the Garda Síochána (police) proposed building the stadium in early 1935 and started fundraising with his wife Mary Agnes Murphy. Together they raised about 1/3 of the campaign. Built in 1939, the venue hosts over 55 days of boxing and a number of other events each year.
Katie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the WBC, WBO, and The Ring magazine titles since 2019, as well as having held the WBO junior-welterweight title in 2019. Following her victory over Delfine Persoon in 2019, she became one of only eight boxers in history to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO—simultaneously.
The Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI) is the governing and sanctioning body for professional boxing in Ireland.
Darren O'Neill is an Irish amateur boxer. He won a gold medal at the 2009 EU Championships, and silver at the 2010 European Championships and 2014 EU Championships. He also captained Ireland's boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Jim Rock is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2009. He is the only boxer to have held the Irish title at four different weights divisions: light-middleweight, middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight.
Patrick Gerard Barnes is an Irish former boxer who competed as an amateur from 2005 to 2016 and as a professional from 2016 to 2019. As an amateur he competed in the light-flyweight division, representing Ireland at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics; winning bronze medals in Beijing and London, and represented Northern Ireland at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games; winning a gold medal at both events. As a professional, he challenged for the WBC flyweight title in 2018.
Kenneth "Kenny" Egan is an Irish politician and boxer from Clondalkin, Dublin best known for winning a silver medal in the final of the 81 kg, Light-Heavyweight boxing final at the 2008 Olympics. He won the European Gold Medal in the 2008 Athens Olympic Qualifiers and a European Bronze Medal in 2006 and 2010 at Light-heavyweight. He was elected to South Dublin County Council for Fine Gael in the 2014 local elections.
John Joseph "John Joe" Nevin, is an Irish professional boxer. He is a two-time Olympian, and a London 2012 silver medalist.
Michael Dowling is an Irish former international boxer and current boxing commentator and analyst. He hails from Castlecomer, County Kilkenny.
Events during the year 2016 in Ireland.
The Tailteann Games or Aonach Tailteann was an Irish sporting and cultural festival held in the Irish Free State in 1924, 1928, and 1932. It was intended as a modern revival of the Tailteann Games held from legendary times until the Norman invasion of Ireland; as such it drew inspiration from the Modern Olympics revival of the Ancient Olympics. Croke Park, the Dublin headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association, was the venue for the opening ceremony and many of the sports events, which were open to people of Irish birth or ancestry. The Tailteann Games were held shortly after the Summer Olympics, such that athletes participating in Paris 1924 and Amsterdam 1928 came to compete. Participants coming from England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, the USA, South Africa and Australia as well as Ireland. Chess competitions were held in conjunction with the Irish Chess Union as part of the Tailteann Games. There were also artistic competitions and industrial displays. The games became regarded as a Cumann na nGaedheal project, and when that party lost power to Fianna Fáil after the 1932 election there was no financial backing for further games.
Kurt Anthony James Walker is an Irish Professional boxer. He won gold medals at the 2018 EU Championships and 2019 European Games, silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2017 European Championships.
Kellie Anne Harrington is an Irish amateur boxer, amateur World champion and an Olympic gold medallist.
William Thomas Walsh is an Irish former boxer who is currently the Head Coach of USA Boxing. Raised in Wexford he competed in the men's welterweight event at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Dean Walsh is current 2023 71 kg national elite Irish champion. His achievements include five Irish Elite titles and a bronze medal at the 2015 European Championships in Bulgaria.
This did not happen, however, after the association indicated via email on Tuesday that they had changed their stance on virtually every detail of the package.
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