Boxing Ireland

The Irish Athletic Boxing Association was founded in 1911. For nearly thirty years, the association moved from venue to venue, until the National Stadium was built. 1939 This made it the only amateur boxing organization in the world with its own stadium.

The stadium was built largely through volunteer work. The architects Jones and Kelly offered their services free of charge, while fans and officials organized shows and campaigns to raise the approximately £12,000 needed. In March 1939, the National Senior Championships were held there, followed a month later by the European Senior Championships, where Jimmy Ingle and Paddy Dowdall won gold and Charlie Evenden won bronze. The stadium hosted both the last European Championship before World War II in 1939 and the first one afterward in 1947.

In 1924, Ireland competed in the Olympic Games in Paris for the first time as an independent nation, followed by Amsterdam 1928 and Los Angeles 1932. Ireland's first Olympic boxing medal came in 1952 in Helsinki, when John McNally won silver. Four medals followed in Melbourne in 1956, with silver for Fred Tiedt and bronze for Tony Byrne, Fred Gilroy, and John Caldwell.

In 1992 in Barcelona, Michael Carruth became Ireland's first Olympic boxing champion, with Wayne McCullough winning silver. From 2003 onward, the Irish Sports Council funded the High Performance unit, which laid the foundation for later successes. London 2012 was the best tournament ever, with four medals, including Olympic gold for Katie Taylor.

The federation organizes the national championships and the annual competition calendar, selects and supports Team Ireland, and oversees the High Performance unit.

In addition, Boxing Ireland provides official training for coaches, referees and judges, the iBoxClean anti-doping program, and grassroots programs such as Start Box, Boxing 4 All and Women in Sport. Clubs can access safeguarding, grants and support, and there is a club finder for those looking for a nearby club.

Boxing Ireland is a full member of World Boxing, within the Europe region, with membership expressly covering the entire island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. The association is also a full member of European Boxing, the continental federation of World Boxing.

Within Ireland, the association works with four provincial councils, Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster, each with its own president, who are directly elected by the affiliated clubs. Below these are the county boards of, among others, Antrim, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Tyrone and Wexford, followed by the clubs themselves.

Boxing is Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport. At the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games, seven of Ireland’s eight medals across all sports came from the boxing ring.

The National Stadium, built through volunteer work and the only stadium in the world built specifically for amateur boxing, is considered the beating heart of that tradition. Around the stadium and the hundreds of clubs, a sport has developed that, according to the federation itself, is primarily about building character, discipline and respect in local communities.

Names such as Michael Carruth, Wayne McCullough, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan and two-time Olympic champion Kellie Harrington made Irish boxing visible internationally.