SORT THIS OUT

Minister calls on boxing to stop in-fighting

THE Government have hit out at the ‘internal squabbling’ within Irish boxing that is preventing Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport from reaching its potential.

Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers has challenged the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) to sort out the in-fighting as Irish boxing has yet again been plunged into crisis this week following Bernard Dunne’s resignation as High Performance director. Sport Ireland yesterday announced €14.2 million package for athletes in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, but the funding for the IABA won’t be confirmed until it has satisfactorily addressed all of the governance issues revealed by the Tokyo review.

Dunne had been in the role since 2017 but the former world super-bantamweight champion had been on leave since the Tokyo Olympics where the Irish team captured a gold and a bronze medal. Dunne claimed his position was severely undermined in April of last year when an anonymous

SWOT analysis paper was released and was highly critical of his performance in the role. He lodged a formal complaint with IABA chief executive Fergal Carruth following the Olympics. The complaint was due to be heard last week, but was postponed which is understood to have led to Dunne’s departure. Dunne (left) is a popular figure with the boxers, with both Tokyo medalists, Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh, coming out in support of him. The IABA have asked him to reconsider his resignation. ‘It is very important to recognise that we will not penalise the athletes and our intention is not to penalise the athletes or the grassroots clubs or community clubs that work closely in providing boxing opportunities for everybody,’ Sport Ireland CEO Una May said. ‘Once we have a system that is secure and operating at the appropriate level, we have ring-fenced funding. But we need a plan in place in order to implement that.’ Minister Chambers said he was concerned with the constant squabbling within the IABA. ‘There has been a comprehensive governance review undertaken and that is now with the IABA. They need to fully implement many of the recommendations that set about reform around culture, around high performance and a whole range of areas related to governance. ‘The constant internal squabbling is seriously undermining boxing and the potential it delivers.’ Minister Chambers insisted that he and the government would do everything they could to ensure that Katie Taylor’s slated rematch against Amanda Serrano will take place at Croke Park later this year.