Thriving De Courcey Boxing Club on the move to new Bandon location
Cork Boxing: George Geoff, Togher, and Bibi Long, Golden Gloves, who had the contest of the night at the City Hall.
DE Courcey Boxing Club has moved from Ballinaspittle to Bandon.
The club was established about seven years ago by Will Rossall and had been based in the clubhouse of Courcey Rovers, who assisted them in providing facilities. Now, however, they have found a new base in an industrial estate in Bandon.
That town produced many great Cork boxers in the 1940s and the '50s when they had a local club. Among the great names from that time were Jim Long, Dan O’Mahony, Paddy O’Driscoll, Dave Leany and Billy Vaughan, all of whom were champions in various grades.
This club has always been well organised and had a team in the United States at the end of last year. They are supported by a strong committee who have worked very hard to support and develop their club over recent years.
Now many aspiring boxers male and female in Bandon and surrounding areas will have an opportunity to join a thriving outfit. Head coach Will Rossall has worked tirelessly for the club. He is meticulous in his approach to promoting boxing; he is always very conscious of the boxers and their requirements.
Last Sunday the De Courcey Club had a sparring session on their new premises. This was a great success and was supported by many clubs who provided boxers for the event.
They are currently preparing for an official opening of their new unit in a few weeks. This will be a red-letter day for the club and its members and will do an official report on the event.
On the day to formally declare the Club officially open, the ribbon will be cut by long-time secretary of the Cork County Board John Wiseman. This is an inspired choice by the De Courcey Club as John has put in thousands of hours of hard work promoting Cork boxing and Cork clubs over the last 15 years.
On behalf of all in Cork boxing, the officers of the County Board extend best wishes to all in the De Courcey Boxing Club.
The Cork Ex-Boxers Association are planning to mark the Centenary of Ireland’s first boxing participation in the Olympic Games. Next year the Olympic Games will take place in Paris. In 1924, the Games also took place in the French Capital, and Irish boxers took part in the Games for the first time.
The Irish Olympic Boxing Team was comprised of ten boxers, three of whom were Cork men, Willie Boy Murphy, Moss Doyle and James Kelleher. Now 100 years later Ireland has a grand tally of 35 Olympic Medals in all disciplines. However, the most significant statistic here is that Irish boxers have won 18 of these medals, which is in excess of 50%.
In recent years, this magnificent achievement was lost on certain individuals both in Sport Ireland and amongst members of the Government when certain issues arose in respect of governance and administration. However, it can be stated quite categorically in this column, if it were not for the influence of Micheál Martin a proud Cork boxing man, as was seen at the Glen Boxing Tournament recently – the IABA would still be going around in circles looking for the full reinstatement of funding.
In 2014 to mark the Centenary of Cork County Boxing, CEBA, that is the Cork Ex-Boxers Association, unveiled a plaque in Bishop Lucey Park, to honour each of Corks Olympians who boxed for Ireland at the Olympic Games since 1924. Once again CEBA are now planning a mayor event for Cork boxing followers Following the recent very successful streaming of the Glen Boxing Clubs Tournament at Cork’s City Hall, many enquires have been made from Corkonians domiciled all over the world wishing to join the Friends of Cork Boxing Association.
The President of the International Friends of Cork Boxing, Dan O’Connell said in City Hall recently that “It was magnificent to see the Cork Boxing Family now getting stronger as the sport is continuing to flourish on Leeside with technology today, people now have the opportunity to be fully informed on all aspects of Cork boxing activities” he concluded.
Last Sunday, Easter Sunday, at the Glen Boxing Club, the Tri-Colour was flown as a mark of respect to the men and women of the 1916 Insurrection. A new flagpole was installed recently outside the Club House, and sponsored by Joe Buckley of JBC Construction Mallow.
The Buckleys have a long association with the Glen Boxing Club. Joe’s father, the famed Paddy Buckley was renowned for cycling regularly up and back down to Mallow to Spar in the Glen Boxing Club then situated in Spring Lane. The Glen have taken a decision to fly the flag each year from this year on Easter Sunday as the boxing club's official colours are green, black and yellow as magnificently illustrated on the Club’s new flag unfurled recently. Incidentally and similar to the Hurling Club, the black in the club colours represent respect for the men of 1916.
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