Bernard Dunne resigns

crossman47

Bernard Dunne has left his post as high performance director https://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2022/0504/1295915-bernard-dunne-leaves-iaba-role-after-extended-leave/.

What on earth is wrong with our boxing administrators? This is the third high performance director to go. Billy Walsh especially was a huge loss. I would advocate removal of funding until all the current board go but this would hit boxers so I am reluctant to go there. But what can be done? Its an utter shambles.

Strazdas

Something absolutely rotten in the leadership of the IABA (we all know the names, but I won't mention them here). Billy Walsh forced out and now Bernard Dunne not long afterwards.

One wonders what the Olympic funding and Sports Council people will make of all this. This is a clear case of a top high performance director being forced out by the 'individuals' in the IABA and we're only two years out from the Paris Olympics.

section4

I gave up my season ticket in the recession when they hiked the price from 100 euro to 150 euro, I engaged some of the officials at the time saying that a lot of people couldn’t afford it at the time, said I was happy to pay 100 at the time till the economy improved but no, they knew better. I knew then these guys don’t deserve support, I think they’d was a change in structure a5 the time. I never used to miss a night, never been back since.

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119031359#Comment_119031359

There is a lot of rumblings and rancor within IABA for years now. I don’t even bother with trying to get the finer details. But boards and provinces constantly butting heads!

AdrianG08

Does anyone know specifically what was in this document about Bernard Dunne?

To be honest, I was amazed Dunne got this job in the first place but the fall out has been particularly messy.

A candidate of really high quality will never be attracted to that job if the level of interference remains from the "committee".

This SWOT analysis on Dunne (19 point document) is the cause of the latest fall out, would love to see what was said.

Like anything, more than likely contained some exaggerations and some lies but some harsh truths aswell.

The anonymous nature of it though shows how cowardly it was. I see Fergal Carruth is at odds to say the IABA distanced themselves from it, who are these "individuals" Who are bad apples?

Surely Carruth himself should get his shop in order no?

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119070184#Comment_119070184

Billy Walsh suggested last week that the IABA leadership are the actual problem, not so much the troublemaker element within the association. He points out that this stuff keeps happening on their watch and has been going on for 15 years at least.

A well run body would kick the bad apples out and hold on to the high performance directors without any difficulties.

crossman47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119070184#Comment_119070184

As I understand it, the people at odds with Dunne want control of team selection. That is nonsense.

walshb

I don't even think this is anything to do with bad apples. It's just loads people all wanting to be heard....chaos!y etc

SWOT analysis is juts one part of it. It of wasn't the SWOT, it would be something else.

Just go to some the boxing shows and hear the cries of foul and robbery etc, and you will realize what has to be dealt with

The sport is a working class sport, that naturally will attract some strong and aggressive type characters and personalities, with a lot of roughness around the edges. It should be of no surprise that there are, and will be wranglings and aggro!

Strazdas

Interesting developments this evening. The govt are saying to the IABA to completely reform their structures or the funding will pulled.

Only right too - no way should public money be going to an association that has a fair few shysters among its ranks (and people who don't even try to conceal from the public that they are dodgy characters).

https://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2022/0516/1298263-government-tells-iaba-to-reform-or-face-huge-sanctions/

Strazdas

Seems a huge showdown between the IABA and government is on the way. The membership have voted by a large majority to refuse to reform the association as requested by the government - goodness knows where this will end up.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2022/0710/1309386-iaba-to-hold-reform-vote-after-govt-funding-warning/

megadodge

Just saw this on the News.

I don't actually know what the particulars of this vote really involve, but I agree with you that there are an awful lot of gobshites involved with the IABA. I honestly hope this vote doesn't have any negative long-term consequences. It could be a disaster for Irish boxing.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119318290#Comment_119318290

They remind me a lot of stories of how the FAI was alleged to be 30 or 40 years ago. A fair bit of eejitry and amateur antics going on....not at all what you'd expect from a modern sporting body (you'd have to assume the leadership are to blame in that they have allowed this stuff to carry on).

They're playing with fire though. The government would need their heads examined to hand over wads of cash to a bunch of amateurs who refuse to reform.

secman

Only 39% of delegates bothered to turn up... says it all really...pity the boxers doing all the hard grafting ro have their sport disgraced by the turkeys who refuse to vote for Christmas...just made it totally obvious that it needs to be restructured.. gravy train coming to a halt....

Furze99

Often been a whiff of the gravy train, criminality and dodgy behaviour around boxing. Will the government live up to their threats though?

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119318949#Comment_119318949

They really will, because it is of no consequence to them politically to do so. Also, sports governance reform is something they want done and handed over to Sport Ireland entirely to manage on a routine basis. No politician wants another FAI or OCI mess landed on them ever again.

I once had a conversation with a political advisor to a big Party, who himself had a keen interest in the growth of Sport. He told me he had approached Fergal Carruth in the early days of the current rot, but "it turned out english wasn't his first language".