Speech at the Re-opening of the Arbour Hill Boxing Club
Arbour Hill Boxing Club, 5th February, 2016
A Dhaoine Uaisle agus a Dhaoine Óga ach go háirithe,
Tá áthas orm an deis seo a bheith agam chun athoscailt Chlub Dornála Chnoc an Arbhair a cheiliúradh. Is mian liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl do John Doyle as an cuireadh a thug sé dom teacht in bhur measc don ócáid shona seo. Is mian liom chomh maith comhgháirdeas a dhéanamh libhse ar fad a chabhraigh i mbealach ar bith chun an togra athchóirithe seo a chur i gcrích.
I am very happy to have this opportunity to celebrate with you the reopening of the Arbour Hill Boxing Club. It is uplifting to see these beautiful historic premises gain a fresh breath of life.
The Arbour Hill Boxing Club, one of the oldest boxing clubs in the country, was founded in the decade of Ireland’s independence, in 1929, by a local priest named Father McLaughlin. The building has a military ethos, having previously been used as a school by the children of the British Army personnel who operated in the nearby Prison and Military Barracks.
I know that all of you here – old and young alike – appreciate the historical and symbolic value of an Arbour setting for any activity. As President of Ireland, I come here every year to honour the memory of the leaders of the 1916 Rising who were buried in the military cemetery at Arbour Hill following their execution in Kilmainham.
This year, of course, the official ceremony at Arbour Hill Cemetery will have a particular resonance, as we commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising, and as we reflect on the significance of this event in the history of our nation.
All of you who contributed in any way to the refurbishment of the Arbour Hill Boxing Club are people who recognise the value and the relevance of the past to our lives together. I am aware that, since 1929, club members have maintained this old school building as best they could, with very limited resources. When it fell into disrepair, there were the inevitable voices suggesting that the Club should move to a new, more readily functional facility. This might well have been the easier option. But in what was, I believe, a real commitment not only to the past but also to the future, you decided otherwise. You resolved not to let go to waste this place you had inherited from previous generations, with its wealth of memories, stories and record of achievement.
Therefore may I, this evening, pay tribute to the remarkable community effort that has enabled the refreshed boxing facility we are seeing today. There is indeed a strong community attached to this Club. Many of you have longstanding links with it. To name but a few, your Chairman and Coach, Des Phelan, started boxing at the age of 10; and then the father of the current President, the late Mick Sutton, was a trainer at the Arbour Hill Club.
I am aware, too, that much of the recent refurbishment work was completed thanks to the generous financial contribution of John and Alan Keogh, who represented Ireland at international boxing events in the late 1970s and early 1980s. John and Alan felt, I was told, that the Club had “kept them on the straight and narrow”, and they wanted “to return the favour.”
The community connected to the Arbour Hill Boxing Club is a growing one. I am happy to note that, thanks to the work carried out during its six-month closure, the Club now offers changing rooms for girls as well as boys. Arbour Hill’s Boxing Club thus attracts a growing number of female members, many of them inspired by the huge achievements of one of our national sporting heroes, Katie Taylor, on the international boxing stage.
Indeed boxing is a sport in which there is a long tradition of Irish excellence. It is undeniably Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport – a fact that was confirmed at the last Olympic Games in London, where Irish boxers secured four medals.
This Club, of course, has had its share of success. May I seize this opportunity to salute Eddie Tracey, Brendan McCarthy and Mick Dowling, who are here with us this evening. I recall how the three of you represented Ireland in the 1968 Olympic Games, and how Mick then went on to participate in the 1972 Games. Performances such as these represent, I am sure, a tremendous inspiration for the new generation of boxers who train at the Arbour Hill Boxing Club. The day might come when the name of the McDonagh brothers, among others, will be added to this distinguished list of champions. They might thus continue the tradition of Irish Olympian triplets introduced by Michael Carruth!
I do not need to convince this particular audience of the many merits of the sport of boxing. Not only is it perhaps the best sport to develop overall fitness, but it is also one that instils such valuable qualities of character in those who undertake it– such as tactical awareness, endurance, discipline and self-control. Importantly, like other sports, it teaches one that losing is part of life, that one can learn from failure, and that success comes from hard work.
I wish each and every one of the boxers here the very best in their future endeavours, and I wish the Arbour Hill Boxing Club a prosperous future. May it continue, for many years to come, to be a breeding ground for new boxing talents!
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.