“The IABA has only just become aware of the subject matter of recent media articles naming Gerry O Mahony, President of the IABA, and his involvement in legal proceedings.
Gerry O Mahony has volunteered to step aside from discharging the duties of the President of the IABA, pending the resolution of those matters.
This includes all domestic and international functions.
We are mindful of each person’s presumption of innocence and shall be making no further media comment on this matter which is now before the Courts”.
There are 10 days remaining for the completion of affiliation for the 2024/2025 season is now open. Clubs are reminded that they must be affiliated in order to vote in national elections (Rule 6.11). The deadline by which all fees are due through your club’s Blocworx portal is midnight on June 15th.
Cost
The total cost of affiliation is €765 per club; however, IABA is in a position to contribute to the fees of every club which is re-affiliating this season. The co-funding amount is 10% of the total. This IABA co-funding reduces the cost for each club to €695.
In the 2020/2021 season, IABA paid all affiliation costs for all clubs, to the value of circa €700 per club.
In the 2021/2022 season, IABA paid 60% of the affiliation fees for all clubs, to the value of circa €450 per club
In the 2022/2023 season, IABA paid all affiliation costs for all re-affiliating clubs, to the value of circa €700 per club. Newly affiliating clubs paid a nominal fee of €250
In the 2023/2024 season, IABA contributed €355 to the affiliation fees of all clubs.
In the 2024/2025 season, IABA is contributing €70 to the affiliation fees of all clubs.
This is a total contribution by IABA to the insurance costs of all clubs of €2,275, per club.
2024/2025 Affiliation & Insurance Fee Breakdown
Proportion of affiliation fee going to insurance costs: 97.8%
Insurance cover, including travel insurance, personal accident, approved club events and public liability cover: €680
Every year, we endeavour to ensure the best possible deal for our members. As part of membership of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, successfully affiliated clubs receive the benefit of the association’s comprehensive insurance package, including Public Liability and Travel. This cover applies solely to activities controlled, sponsored, recognised and/or authorised by IABA (e.g. training of boxers, permitted shows). It is not a substitute for club’s own insurance arrangements.
Fees due:
Midnight, June 15th: Fees must be paid, in full, through your club’s Blocworx portal. In completing affiliation for the 2024/2025 season, clubs must review:
Main contact email:
This is the email address that IABA uses to send correspondence to your club. Please check that:
This is the email address your club wants to use to receive all of its correspondence
This is a functioning email addresses, with no typos or errors
This email address is able to receive emails.
If the club is using the personal email address of a club member, please ensure this person consents to the inclusion of their email address as the club’s main contact email
Please do not use email addresses linked to your employment as your main contact email address. Doing so means that sensitive information which belongs to your club is being stored on the email server used by your employer, and that information is accessible by your employer. It also means that, should you move to a different role with a new employer, your club has lost all access to all of its emails and all of this sensitive information.
IABA strongly advises that clubs set up a club email address, so that, in the event that officers change, all club information is stored in the same place, and not spread across several email accounts in the event that officers change within your club.
Secretary’s Address
Please review and up-date your secretary’s home address. This is the address to which any and all postal ballots will be sent. Please ensure that a relevant Eircode or Postcode is included
Boxers
All boxers, whether they are competitive or not, must be included in your Blocworx portal so that they are insured. If you haven’t already done so, please now review the details of every boxer in your club in your portal, and add any boxers in your club who are not present. Please remove any boxers who are no longer members of your club, including boxers who may have transferred to another club.
Coaches and R&Js
A significant number of club members have qualified as coaches, Judges and Referees since clubs affiliated for the current season. Please make sure that all of your club’s new coaches are included in the coaching section of your affiliation portal, and that any members who have qualified as Judges or Referees are named in the relevant section of your portal, including their qualification.
Officers
If your officers (President/Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Child Protection Officer) have changed, or changed elected roles within your club since your last affiliation, please up-date those records in Blocworx. Note: No one person in a club can hold two elected offices – for example, the Secretary cannot also be the President/Chair, Treasurer or Child Protection Officer. However, an officer can hold an elected role and act as a coach or other form of volunteer, for example.
Affiliation timeline:
Your affiliation goes through several steps before it is approved. Once your club has completed the review and up-date of affiliation information, then:
Your county board has a two-week period from the time your club submits its application to review that application; this will not begin until June 29th
Your provincial unit has a two-week from the time your county board has completed its review to, in turn, review your application; this won’t begin until July 13th
Your application will be reviewed by National Stadium staff
Usernames and passwords issued to clubs for this season’s affiliation process have not changed. IABA has already re-issue username and log-in details to clubs in recent weeks.
If you have any questions or require any assistance in preparing for your 2023/2024 affiliation, please contact any member of staff. The sooner you contact a member of staff with your difficulty, the sooner it can be resolved. Please do not wait until the final day for affiliation to ask for staff assistance.
Important Notice
Clubs should be advised that if their affiliation actions, including all Garda/Access NI matters are not addressed during the applicable period, clubs will not be able to undertake the following:
Vote in any AGM or EGM
Vote in any Central Council or Provincial Council elections
Enter any boxers in any National Championships
Submit any club members for participation in Fundamentals: Assistant coach courses
Submit any club members for participation in Level One: Club Coach courses
Submit any members for participation in IABA Safeguarding workshops
Submit any member for participation in IABA iBoxClean anti-doping learning
Submit any member for participation in IABA 360 Degrees: Diversity & Inclusion learning
Submit any member for any Women in Sport, Diversity & Inclusion or Club Development programme.
The 2nd Olympic World Qualifier team return home from Bangkok this morning, and brought with them four more tickets to Paris 2024.
54kg Jennifer Lehane qualified following a 5-0 win over Hungary’s Hannah Lakotar. 66kg Grainne Walsh was similarly decisive in her victory over Armenia’s Ani Hovesepyan. 50kg Daina Moorehouse assured herself of a place on the plane with a 4-1 decision over Bulgaria’s Zlatislava Genadieva Chukanova – and 71kg Aidan Walsh, a bronze medalist in Tokyo, becomes a double Olympian with his UD victory over Puerto Rico’s Angel Gabriel Llanos Perez.
92+kg Martin McDonagh was, for the second time, a hair’s breadth from qualification. He contested against 2021 World silver medalist, Davit Chaloyan of Armenia. The first round went to Martin on a split, and the 3-2 split decision is testament to Martin’s performance.
High Performance Director, Tricia Heberle says “I think the decisions we made around the athletes that could qualify in this sort of team size were absolutely correct and I feel there’s no defence warranted of the decisions or the processes that were taken. This is just such a fantastic thing for Irish boxing but also a fantastic achievement for Irish sport. We want to be part of history, we want to create new records and all of these athletes involved in this programme feel that they want to leave a legacy.”
Head Coach, Zauri Antia, offers his congratulations to clubs and club coaches of all qualified boxers ” I am very happy and I would like to say congratulations to every club coach – thank you for your big support. Of course, they did huge work with our boxers. Now is the final moment; we are to unite with club coaches. High Performance coaches and club coaches should work for boxers benefit. And of course families are very important, how they support boxers.”
Those congratulations are echoed by High Performance Coach, Damian Kennedy “I want to offer my congratulations to all the clubs that’s involved with the athletes that just received Olympic status. It’s a huge day for Irish boxing; it’s a huge day for all of the clubs. It’s a huge day for the club coaches and families.”
All of the 2nd Olympic World Qualifier team are on a week’s rest, and will return to High Performance training on June 11th, at which point there will be 46 days until the first bell at the North Paris Arena.
Zauri says “Now we know what areas to work. In those areas in which they achieved best (in Bangkok), we will improve those sides….we will work more individually. Those boxers who’ve just they are ready for the Olympic Games, because they have had all of this cycle of preparation. They need now a nice rest, and start preparation. The other boxers (already qualified for Paris), they will have quality sparring. Individual analysis will be very important for us.”
High Performance Director, Tricia Heberle says “Now the challenge is that we got to the Olympics and we build on qualification, because we’re not going to Paris to participate – we’re going to Paris to be in the medal rounds and on the podium”
The maximum team size any federation may qualify for an Olympic Games is 13. Six Team Ireland boxers have already qualified: reigning Olympic lightweight champ, Kellie Harrington, and now double Olympians 57kg Michaela Walsh and Aoife O’Rourke. 57kg Jude Gallagher booked his ticket to Paris at the 1st Olympic World Qualifier. 63.5kg Dean Clancy and heavyweight, Jack Marley, qualified at the 2023 European Games.
51kg Sean Mari showed humbling courage in his Last 16 Bout against Malaysia’s Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum. Sean sustained an injury to his backhand in his opening bout win over Pakistan, but chose to continue training throughout the week, and step between the ropes. He contested with great valour, but was withdrawn on medical grounds before the 3rd round by his corner, Damian Kennedy and James Doyle.
80kg Kelyn Cassidy contested his 3rd bout of the tournament against Spain’s Gazimagomed Schami Jalidov Gafurova – and feel foul of the dreaded 3-2 split decision. Kelyn, who recorded earlier statement wins over Germany and India en route to the Last 16, says “Gave it my all but came up short. Paris Olympic dream over. If you had of said 3 years ago after making it on HP that I would end up where I did, I would have laughed at you. It was a great honour to where the Irish signet on my chest with pride. Also to have the backing of Waterford behind me was something I’ll never forget. I hope you all enjoyed the journey and hopefully I brought good energy buzz back home”.
Ireland will have a record-equaling number of boxers at this summer’s Olympic Games, following the conclusion of the 2nd Olympic World Qualifier. 4 boxers qualified today, bringing the total Olympic team number to 10 – a team size not seen since the 1960 Games.
579 boxers from 133 countries contested the tournament in Bangkok. As with the 1st Olympic World Qualifier in March, boxers will contest to quota; meaning, they ceased to box at a qualification bout.
54kg Jennifer Lehane opened proceedings in style today – contesting against Hungary’s Hannah Lakotar. Jenny was in control throughout the bout, relying on clean, simple tactics and her lightning fast feet. She knew she’d booked her ticket to Paris before her hand was raised, which it was following declaration of a unanimous decision. 30:27; 30:27; 29:28; 29:28; 30:27.
Jenny, a primary school teacher, took a two year career break to focus on boxing and full time training in July, 2022. She contested the 2023 European Games and the 1st Olympic World Qualifier in Milan. Jenny says “I feel on top of the world. This is the stuff dreams are made of. I can’t believe it. We (the coaches and I) sat down together and put the tactics together – I just listened to them and stuck to my simple boxing. I think that’s what got me over the line.”
66kg Grainne Walsh stepped between the ropes two bouts after Jenny, contesting against Armenia’s Ani Hovesepyan, having won bouts against Vietnam, People’s Republic of Korea, and Cote d’Ivoire. Grainne’s superior power, punch-picking and accuracy showed, throughout. She won all rounds, and booked her ticket to Paris by virtue of a 5-0 decision. Judges scored the bout 26:30; 26:30; 27:29; 26: 30; 26:30.
Grainne says “It’s extremely hard to sum up, in words, this feeling. I feel like this was all meant to be. I feel like I qualified in Milan, and I came to Bangkok to collect my ticket. I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m just so delighted and over the moon, having my family here – I have my Dad here, and my brother and my sister, and the support of the nation and my community at home in Tullamore. I’m actually so proud of myself. It’s been a long road, and it’s only the start. The faith the coaches have shown in me, the road I’ve been on, all the knock-backs. It all had to be for this reason – if I had have turned around and walked away, some people may have done that, but each time I got a knock back – it actually set me up and added more strings to my bow – that’s why this moment is all the sweeter for me.”
50kg Daina Moorehouse was the third Irish athlete in the ring at the Indoor Stadium Hua Mak today. She won through to this stage with victories over Anush Grigoryan of Armenia and Ayln Jamez of Guatemala. Daina contested against Bulgaria’s Zlatislava Genadieva Chukanova. This was a high tempo bout, the first round of which Daina claimed 4-1. She kept up that pace in the second, to little response – however, she had a point deducted for low-head. The judges awarded her the round, but it was’t enough in the end to keep her from Paris. Her hand was raised, and a 4-1 split in her favour declared. The final scores: 29:27; 29:27; 29:27; 27:29; 29:27. High Performance Director Tricia Heberle says “Tremendous performance underpinned by meticulous preparation, strong work ethic & determination to succeed”
Daina says “I actually don’t know how to feel, I’m in my own world right now. I just can’t believe it….I think what got me over the line was, I was so close I’d gotten before. I was that extra bit hungrier. I did not want to leave here without this ticket today. I went in there and gave it everything I have.”
Tokyo bronze medalist, 71kg Aidan Walsh, had the longest path to today’s qualification bout, for several reasons. His weight was the largest by number of entries (70), and the fact 5 quota places were available meant all losing quarter finalists had to box two additional bouts, contesting for the 5th place. Aidan won bouts against Kenya, Algeria and Ukraine, before losing his quarter final on to Jordan on a 3-2 split. As part of the box-off process, he contested against Cuba yesterday, claiming a 5-0 victory to win the chance to contest today. He stepped between the ropes against Puerto Rico’s Angel Gabriel Llanos Perez. Aidan was in control of the bout from the off, dictating pace and tempo. He became a double Olympian following a unanimous decision in his favour. The final score: 29:28; 30:27; 29:28; 29:28; 30:27.
Aidan says “It’s absolutely amazing. Words just can’t describe this time. Five, six months ago I was retired and I didn’t think I was every going to get back in to boxing, to be honest. I was looking for jobs and I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. With the help of some amazing people I got back on track and I’m here – it’s so hard to believe. I’m just so happy I get to share the experience with my sister (Michaela), like I did in Tokyo” Aidan’s sister, Michaela, is overcome with joy for her brother “My brother Aidan has just qualified for his 2nd Olympic Games. The feeling of pride I have for him. If I had the choice I would give up my Olympic ticket to see him go to Paris, fortunately we will both be there together. What dreams are made of. Thank you God”
92+kg Martin McDonagh contested the last bout of the qualifier against 2021 World silver medalist, Davit Chaloyan of Armenia. The first round went to Martin on a split, and the 3-2 split decision is testament to Martin’s performance. Judges scored the bout 28:29; 27:30; 29:28; 29:28; 28:29, with the Korean, Polish and German judges preferring the work of the Armenian. This is the second consecutive Olympic qualifier in which Martin has reached the qualification bouts, and gone out on a 3-2 split. This is a remarkable achievement for a super-heavy boxer who turned 21 in February, and joined High Performance in 2023 – winning, in that year, every domestic title available to him. He is an immense talent.
IABA President, Gerry O’Mahony says “I’m absolutely over the moon for them. Big day for Irish boxing – but its a big day for every club in Ireland, its a big day for every coach in Ireland. It gives them something to aspire to. The Olympics is our goal, our dream. To have the biggest number – it’s fantastic. Well done to the kids out boxed out there. And to the kids who didn’t make it, it wasn’t for the want of trying. They gave it their all, up to the last bell. We’re very proud of them. We’re proud of them all.”
Adam Nolan, 2012 Olympian, says “Ireland’s female boxing team are the only outfit in Europe who have qualified 6 from the 6 weight divisions available for Paris ‘24. Italy are the next closest with 5 from 6 but with a population of 58 million. Well done girls & coaches.. phenomenal achievement!”
The maximum team size any federation may qualify for an Olympic Games is 13. Six Team Ireland boxers have already qualified: reigning Olympic lightweight champ, Kellie Harrington, and now double Olympians 57kg Michaela Walsh and Aoife O’Rourke. 57kg Jude Gallagher booked his ticket to Paris at the 1st Olympic World Qualifier. 63.5kg Dean Clancy and heavyweight, Jack Marley, qualified at the 2023 European Games.
Homecoming
The team will depart Bangkok on Monday morning, and will land at Dublin Airport’s Terminal One at 6.45am on Tuesday morning – flight QR 019 from Doha.
Boxers will take a week off to rest and recover, and return to training on June 11th, with just 46 days from that point to the first bell in Paris.
2nd Olympic World Qualifier Team
50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC, Co. Wicklow
54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU Boxing Club, Dublin
66kg Grainne Walsh, St. Mary’s BC, Tallaght, Dublin
51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown BC, Dublin
71kg Aidan Walsh, Holy Family Golden Gloves BC, Belfast
