Cork Boxing gears up for unique festival to celebrate sport's special place in Leeside history
Cork Boxing: Spartan Boxing Club Coaches and boxers at the Emerald Boxing Club.
The new season is now rapidly approaching and will be a dynamic and spectacular period for Cork boxing followers.
Details of a unique three-day Leeside Boxing Festival were announced recently. This event will take place April 23-25 next year.
In addition to the Cork County Boxing Board, the Cork Ex-Boxers Association and the Cork Boxing Fraternity Association will all be involved in the organising and presentation of the programme.
This festival will also mark and celebrate the centenary of the Sunnyside Boxing Club, who were established in 1927. In addition to the Cork Boxing Board, founded in 1914, and the Glen BC, established in 1916, Sunnyside will become the third strand of Cork boxing with over a century of service to the promotion and development of the noble art in the southern capital.
The Rylane Boxing Club and their founders and officials will be honoured to mark their remarkable contribution as the longest surviving rural club since Dan Lane, amongst others, ignited their eternal boxing flame in 1979. To ensure that these event dates don’t clash with any other boxing fixtures, the programme has been fully outlined to the CEO Gary Stuart and the IABA president Anto Donnelly.
The IABA has now rebranded to Boxing Ireland. The National Officer Board and many other dignitaries will be invited. This includes many of Cork's most famous names from other codes, who will be warmly welcomed in the Spirit of Sport.
The festival will commence at 3pm on the Friday at the Glen Boxing Club in Blackpool, where all visitors will be welcomed to Ireland's oldest boxing club. Guests will enjoy a tour of Ireland's only Boxing Museum, which was opened two years ago by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The historic sporting significance of Micheál Martin's involvement was remarkable as his father, Paddy 'the Champ' Martin, in the 1940s and '50s was one of the Glen Boxing Club's most prominent boxers.
Following this, guests accompanied by Cork boxing officials will be received at the City Hall by the Lord Mayor of Cork, who will invite them to sign the visitors’ book. As the Cork City Hall has enjoyed a long association with the sport of boxing, many refer to the building as the spiritual home of Cork Boxing. The Lord Mayor will do the honours at 5.30pm and officially open the Cork Boxing Festival.
At 7.30pm, the focal point of the weekend takes place, when the first bell will signal the opening bout of a senior boxing tournament. This card will feature many of Ireland's top amateur boxers on the star-studded bill.
On the second day, with the venue to be announced, a 20-bout juvenile mixed tournament will take place.
That night at the Rochestown Park Hotel, a celebratory dinner dance will take place with a very prominent guest speaker. The social side of the festival will start at 7.30pm sharp with The Echo sports editor John McHale the MC for the evening.
On Sunday at 12pm, the Butter Exchange Band will give a recital in Bishop Lucey Park. This will be followed by the march of champions where all of Cork's All-Ireland winners from the 2027 boys and girls 1, 2, 3 and 4 campaigns will march around Bishop Lucey Park, led by the Lord Mayor of Cork. They will then be presented with their Jack McAuliffe gold medals which will be presented to the athletes by the president of CEBA, Cork Ex-Boxers Association, Dan O'Connell and the chairman of CEBA, JJ Murphy. The new Boxing Wall in the park will then be officially opened by the President of CEBA.
This will then be followed by the unveiling of two further plaques on the newly refurbished Cork Boxing Wall of Fame. This will also bring the curtain down on what promises to be an illustrious sporting weekend in the annals of Leeside boxing.
Meanwhile, that great old Douglas sporting warrior Dinny Carroll slipped away gently during the week. At 92, he had a great innings and celebrated his 90th birthday in style in the presence of An Taoiseach. Dinny, who was the President of Douglas Hall AFC was a great follower of our weekly boxing column. He was the older brother of the former Sunnyside and New York-based boxer Donie Carroll.
Dinny attended many Cork Boxing Breakfasts where he sang with the Cork Choir 'The Chorister's. One of his favourite songs which he sang with great gusto was 'Stranger in Paradise'.
Dinny was so well known that he will never be a stranger in paradise. The sympathy of all in Cork Boxing circles is extended to his brother Donie, and all members of the Carroll family. Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dìlis.
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