John Birmingham was a great servant and supporter of Cork Boxing

LAST month’s Tomas MacCurtain Boxing Tournament and Concert, at the City Hall promoted by the Glen Boxing Club has evoked many great memories for the Club and Cork boxing supporters.

One man who was linked very closely to both the Glen BC and City Hall was the late John Birmingham. 

In the late 1940s, '50s and early '60s John Birmingham was Mr. Cork Boxing.

In addition to his sporting interests, John was also a great humanitarian.

In 1953, he established the Cork Polio Association. 

This subsequently expanded and developed to become the Cope Foundation, an organisation which has played a huge role in Cork Society for many generations. 

In 1968, John Birmingham was elected Lord Mayor of Cork. 

Forty years later his son Brian Birmingham, in 2008, was also elected Lord Mayor of Cork.

At the Tomas Mac Curtain event in City Hall all surviving Lords Mayor were presented with a Special Plaque by the Glen BC.

This was to acknowledge that in their capacity as Lord Mayor, they wore the Chain worn by MacCurtain, accordingly they were linked to Cork history.

Cork City Hall was packed to the rafters for this unique occasion; among the many special guests on the night was a group from the Cope Foundation. 

These ladies were attached to the Cope House at 28 Riverview, Glasheen, and were accompanied by staff members Bridget Siebord and Ann Busteed. 

Their invitation to the event was organised by Avril Keating of Cope. 

Avril is widely acknowledged for her great work on behalf of the Organisation, and she is constantly planning trips, occasions and events, which are greatly appreciated and fully enjoyed by all in Riverview, Glesheen.

Seen above, in the main picture is Brian Birmingham welcoming the group from Cope. 

The Birmingham name will always be associated to the Foundation, and in the true spirit of his late father John Birmingham. 

Brian on the night was an excellent ambassador linking the past to the present.

In his capacity as Secretary to the Glen B.C., and President of the Cork County Boxing Board, John Birmingham was regularly organising Tournaments and Semi-Internationals in the City Hall.

In his address to the packed attendance at the Tomas Mac Curtain Commemoration Night, Micheál Martin reflected on many of the great nights when his father, Paddy the Champ’ Martin boxed in City Hall.

The Tánaiste fully immersed himself in the boxing, and presented medals and exchanged points of view with many of the boxers when they left the ring.

Paddy Martin and John Birmingham were very close friends.

It was referred to prior to the commencement of the Boxing Tournament that the City Hall, as we know it today, was officially opened in 1938. 

The Glen Boxing Club, eighty-five years ago, were the first Club to hold a Tournament at the iconic venue. 

On that splendid occasion, a Club from Pembroke ABC in Wales provided the opposition. 

This was an historic occasion for the sport of boxing and the Glen Boxing Club.

Over the years following that first Tournament, the Glen B.C. often travelled to Pembroke, and the men from Wales kept returning to Leeside. 

They were all great boxing occasions; however, one of the most remembered took place in the Glen Rovers Hurling Club, known as the Glen Hall in Tomas Davis St., Blackpool, on Friday 20th October 1978.

The Boxing was due to commence at 8 p.m. but was delayed because of the huge crowd outside the door. 

Traffic in Blackpool was at a standstill and cars were parked all the way up to Dublin Hill. During the night the then Taoiseach Jack lynch, accompanied by Paddy Martin and Tim O’Sullivan arrived. 

It was a magnificient night of top class boxing. Some of the Glen boxers who lined out for the Club on the night were K.O’Connell, R. Fiddes, B. Long, P. O’Shea, D. Mintern and S. Griffin.

The Glen selection team also featured D. O’Connor, Ballyphehane, T. Thompson, Transport, G. Delaney, Transport, F. O’Mahony, Ballyphehane, M. Duncliffe, Fr.Horgan B.C., P. Coade, Ballyphehane and the great Willie Bird ,Fr. Horgans B.C..

The attendance fully got behind the boxers and there was an outstanding atmosphere in the Hall. 

That building was opened by Glen Rovers in 1953. It was the biggest and most ultra modern G.A.A. Club in the Country.

At the official opening, Jack Lynch spoke, and in his speech, he reminded the Hurling Club members never forget that, they were established at a meeting which took place in the Glen Boxing Club in Spring Lane in 1916. 

For that Tournament in 1978, the Glen Boxing Club produced a fine Souvenir Programme.

Today it is interesting to see that many of those business who advertised are not longer there, but thankfully many survived and they include, the Chicken Inn, at the English Market, Shandon Travel, Dick Turpin Bar, now under new name and ownership, O’Sullivan Butchers, Grand Parade Market, The Groves Bar, O’Brien Plastics, The Castle Hotel Blarney, O’Briens Launderette, Blackpool, The Bavarian Bar, The Manhattan Bar, whose proprieter back then was Denis Cregan. 

Dino to this day is continuing to sponsor and support boxing and last year celebrated 50 years in the family chipper business, Loftus Plant Hire and Moriarty’s hairdressing salon, Wm. O’Brien St, today it is better known as Mick Moriarty the Baldy Barbers, now part of Cork hairdressing folklore and a business who was given great support to the Glen Boxing Club for many years.

The sympathy of the Cork County Board and the Cork Ex-Boxers Association has been extended to the Loftus Family following the recent death of John Loftus a former Boxer with the Glen Boxing Club.