Dungarvan man Gerry O'Mahony has recently been appointed as the Irish Athletic Boxing Association president.

He spoke to Damien about his new role and about the problems the organisation is having with the latest announcement by Minister of State and Sport Jack Chambers.

The announcement stated that funding for all boxing with the exception of the High Performance unit will be cut unless the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) agrees to practical reforms.

Yesterday clubs across the country voted against the reforms but said they would be open to a discussion with the Minister about them. This is something they have never had the opportunity to do.

The IABA want to have a fair say in the matter, and despite acknowledging that High Performance does a great job, they do not want to be involved with them.

Gerry says the request has to be tweaked, not changed entirely before the organisation will accept the reforms.

"We need sport Ireland, we need the government, we need their funding," he said.

They were given two months before their funding will be cut, at which point they are expected to come back with positive steps on how they plan to reform.

The IABA is now a company and a lot of contradictions are overlapping between company law and IABA rulebooks - something Gerry said needs to be sorted out.

Gerry believes the Chairman of the group was very harsh in his comment saying that the clubs in the South have an agenda against the clubs in the North.

To listen to the full conversation click the link in this podcast.

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