The newly elected national president of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) Gerry O' Mahony has reacted to comments from Minister for Sport Jack Chambers, saying "I hope he gets common sense."
O' Mahony spoke to Damien Tiernan on Déise Today on Monday morning following his 143 votes to 94 win over the outgoing Dominic O'Rourke at yesterday's AGM.
The IABA had been informed by Sport Ireland earlier in the summer that they would need to enact a raft of reforms if they were to maintain their current funding level and failing that, sanctions would be applied.
Some of the recommendations included in the review by Sport Ireland include the creation of a new 12-member Board of Directors to manage the running of the association, with six of the 12 being independent candidates. Another recommendation would seek to reduce the central council in size from 37 to 15, while it also advises better working relationships between the high-performance unit and the clubs.
O' Mahony has advised that while it may seem that yesterday's vote looks like an outright refusal of the reforms, it is actually an unwillingness to accept it wholesale.
"They're rejecting some of the things in the reforms, and they're rejecting the fact that the clubs were not consulted fully when those reforms were brought forward. Maybe now he'll (Chambers) will listen. Yesterday the clubs spoke and the clubs are the majority. They spoke that they won't accept those reforms in the present form, but they will sit down to talk with the Minister which is a chance they never got. Hopefully, they'll get it now."
According to RTE, 132 delegates from 338 clubs registered to attend the AGM which represents 39% of the total number of clubs in the country. 101 of those registered clubs were at the meeting requiring 76 votes for a motion to pass. The motion for reform was rejected 80 votes against, with 25 supporting the motion.
As a consequence of last night's decision, the IABA has now been slapped with a 15% cut to its funding. The association now has a two-month cool-down period to start implementing the changes the state are looking for with further action likely if efforts are not made to change. Minister Chambers told Morning Ireland that "If we don't receive that by the middle of September, Sport Ireland will be communicating to the IABA that there will be an escalation of the current position, and in 2023 if there's no reform there will be no funding at all."
According to O' Mahony, the association will be happy to sit down and discuss the changes with the government, but they will not be in agreement until some tweaks are made to the recommendations, "Just a little bit has to be tweaked here and there. If he agrees to that then we will accept the reforms and sit down with Sport Ireland. We need Sport Ireland, we need the government and we need our funding."
