“There’s no room in sport for that type of behaviour’ John Treacy calls for IABA to get it’s act together
John Treacy has called for the IABA civil war to end and is adamant the onus is on those involved to resolve the conflict.
Inner conflict within the IABA is nothing new but the current civil war seems bloodier than anything that has gone before.
It’s got to the point where the IABA Central Council has withdrawn the membership of the Leinster Provincial Council, the Connacht Provincial Council and the Dublin County Board.
Most recently the AGM, which was due to place in Belfast last week, was postponed because five of the 25 members thrown out of the organisation were candidates in the central council elections.
The director of high performance Bernard Dunne has registered a complaint to the IABA, claiming he was undermined in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics after an anonymous letter questioning his leadership was sent to every member of the club and leaked to the press.
Today it emerged up to 50 underage boxers would be denied the chance to compete in the Boy/Girl 1 and 2 Championships because of the fall out at the top.
Fifty underage boxers to miss opportunity of competing for All-Ireland titles as IABA boardroom civil war rumbles on https://t.co/I7o5RhtJxg
— Sean McGoldrick (@SeanMcGoldrick1) November 30, 2021
Sport Ireland CEO Treacy suggests it’s just the latest problem within what he suggests is a troublesome organisation and he has called for those within the IABA to sort the mess out. Treacy seems particularly upset the warring groups are not willing to sit down and hold peace talks in a bid to resolve the issue.
“Boxing always gives us plenty to worry about but the long and short of it is there’s a review going on at the moment that will come up with recommendations,” said Treacy.
“And this was initiated a long time ago by the IABA and ourselves, the issues going on at the moment are around the Boxing Council and who runs boxing affairs.
“I believe that people need to be talking to each other, to sit down and communicate openly with each other.
“There’s no room in sport for that type of behaviour so we want to make sure we support the executive and get on with their business.
“There’s a fine line for Sport Ireland because we can’t keep interfering with the governance of an organisation and we don’t want to be in that space.
“It’s up to them to carry out their elections and put people in place, a proper board in place and run the organisation professionally.
“They need to run their own sport.”
