My late father was a Welshman and proud of it.As a young man his sports of choice were rugby and boxing,He tried his hand at both and I don't know how successful he was .But I do know that these sports were the sports of choice of the ordinary people in Wales.
Which is probably why he continued to attend them when he moved here.
I well remember going to the National Stadium on the South Circular Road to watch National and International boxing matches with him.I enjoyed them immensely I must say.
This was long before the Sports Council and its its obnoxious politically appointed operatives were ever heard of.
Boxing people produced world rated combatants by the dint of hard work and through amateur effort.
And not to put a tooth in it was and is overwhelmingly the sport for tinkers and working class people,not for know all toffs who know as much about it as my arsehole knows about snipes hooting.
Recent events in South County Dublin illustrates perfectly just how Governments and their pet appointees have succeeded in killing off and persecuting tinkers and their families.
They.the Tinkers,and the working classes just don't rate which is probably why Kieran Mulvey and John Tracey felt totally at ease hogging the airwaves and threatening the IABA and its democratically elected officials with all sort of sanctions if said ASSOCIATION didn';t bend to their bullying and intimidating demands.
It goes without saying that neither man has any expertise whatsoever in boxing nor its promotion and I suggest would run a mile if confronted by a togged out opponent.
Singing from the same hymn sheet they have threatened over the airwaves to -
- Review the Sports Council funding off the IABA with repercussions going forward
- See how funding is given and establish from latest review of accounts just how it is spent
-Review IABA CHIEF'S Fergal Carruths role ,We pay him and are not happy.
--We pay the administrative staff and are not happy
--The Sports Council totally funds boxing and is unhappy.
In this these little Dictators have striven to drive a wedge between the democratically elected Officer Board and the imaginary ordinary membership .
Joe Crystle is the Chairman of the Board and I know him well.
His father,also Joe I think, and his brothers founded the Ras Tailteann and made it the international success it is .Needless to say no mouthpieces like Tracey nor Mulvey nor their ilk were around to help out.
The same man,a a Guinness employee,who self educated,founded Dublin Institute of Technology to give ordinary working people ,who had not the wherewithal to go to University, the chance to advance themselves.
It was rumoured that he blew up Nelson's Pillar in 86 although this has since been claimed by another boxer of renown.
As far as I know he died of cancer some years ago in Public Ward in DUBLIN HOSPITAL. AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE, ALTHOUGH HE COULD WELL HAVE USED THE OFFICES OF HIS SONS TO SAY GOODBYE IN MORE COMFORTABLE SURROUNDINGS.
He is buried in Kilmessan.
He has three sons ,Joe,Mel a Senior Counsel.and Terry a surgeon in Navan Hospital.
To my knowledge all three held the All Ireland Heavy weight crowns at different stages and boxed professionally .
If memory serves me correctly all three appeared on the same bill in Navan some years ago.
These guys have forgotten more about boxing than Tracey and Mulvihille will ever know.
Joe is a trained barrister and has not forgotten his boxing roots.
These guys were also formidable hurlers with Drimnagh Castle School years ago and ,although a little after my time often changed epic hostilities with my younger brothers in Cumann na Bunscoile competitions.
Borth families knew how to hurl and protect themselves.
Now as stated both Tracey and Mulvey have hogged the headlines belittling ,bullying and attempting to intimidate the IABA and its officers backed up by journalists who speak uno voce in their favour and sneering at the fact that the IABA was slow in responding.
Knowing JOE and in the certain knowledge that he is the sort of guy that would not countenance anything underhand nor improper I was not surprise that he gave the other side of the story on Radio and totally routed the mumbling mouthpiece Mulvey and a disturbingly partisan Des Cahill, from the fray.
Mulviey wouldn't be the first bully to turn and run when confronted by an intellectual and physical equal who he couldn#t intimidate and shout down.
I WOULD TRUST Joe WITH MY LIFE NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
As for the SPORTS COUNCIL and its mouthpieces THERE OUGHT BE A FULL ENQUIRY INTO ITS MODUS OPERANDI AND HOW THE PREJUDICES OF ITS MEMBERS DENY NATURAL JUSTICE TO THE BODIES IT CLEARLY THINKS IT OWNS,STARTING WITH THE MINISTER.
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