IABA leads with the chin

We don’t have too many living freemen of Wexford.  In the past some of those selected as freemen have been paper tigers when it came to their abilities.  In my time on Wexford Borough Council, we only selected one.  I think we picked well.  He’s Billy Walsh.

Billy represented Ireland in an Olympics in Korea.  His intense rivalry with Michael Carruth brought out the best in both men.  When Carruth won gold at the Barcelona Olympics he said that the toughest fight he’d had in the previous year was in the National Championship against Billy Walsh. The winner of that bout automatically became Ireland’s Olympic entrant at middleweight.

When he finished with boxing he built up a business in Wexford delivering milk.  He was our milkman when we moved to our house. While Billy never won gold, his personable and trusting nature built up relationships with boxers down through the years.  This made him a constant feature in the corner at many an international competition.  Walsh heads up the Irish Amateur Boxing Association High Performance Unit.  When Carruth won gold he had his father in his corner.  Walsh has been like a father to many of his team members.  He’s actually the Uncle of one Irish European bronze medallist, Dean Walsh.  You can’t hide in a boxing ring but if you have Billy Walsh in your corner you will go forward with confidence at what is thrown at you.

Billy is extremely loyal to his town.  He loves the county and in particular GAA.  He’s not driven by money but with someone who knows what it takes to achieve he expects his athletes give their best and in return he’ll do his best for them.

That’s the bit that the blazers who run amateur boxing out of the National Stadium on South Circular Road don’t quite get.   Clearly in the background he has been courted by other nations that admire what he has achieved with his boxers.  Boxing has delivered more Olympic medals for Ireland than any other sporting discipline since 1924.

Perhaps it may well be the case that somewhere in the IABA someone has made a calculation that Walsh was threatening to take some of their power and decisions away from the committee men resplendent in their green blazers with crested breast pockets.  So when he was negotiating a contract which was going to be underpinned by the state through the Irish Sports Council, the breaking point was not money (despite the reality that they haven’t provided for the 51 year old’s pension) but the right to take decisions about team membership.

In most other sports managers are entitled to pick their team members and manage them in the interest of the team.  Not so with boxing.  The Blazers don’t pay for Walsh but want to decide who he puts into the ring.  What about meritocracy?  Why shouldn’t the best box in a team and shouldn’t the manager decide who he will work with? If Walsh doesn’t pick the best would not any committee then be entitled to decide if he manages the team at all? That is what happens in every other sport. 

The IABA must have someone quite extraordinary lined up to take Walsh’s job forward to Rio. There is a whole lot riding on this for Irish sport as the Olympics is less than a year away.  If Billy Walsh, Freeman of Wexford can’t knock sense into the IABA, who can?