IABA’s Safeguarding 1 and 2 courses for October, November and December are now available for booking.

In 2025, IABA is delivering 12 Safeguarding One courses, 4 Safeguarding Two courses and a minimum of 1 Safeguarding Three course.

IABA is also open, on request, to providing Safeguarding One and/or Safeguarding Two learning in person, at a county board or provincial unit level. County Boards and Provinical Units who wish to commission in-person delivery of this learning are invited to make contact with IABA National Safeguarding Manager, Stephen Flynn, via stephen@iaba.ie

Safeguarding One

All adults – coaches, committee members & non-coaching volunteers – in every club who have contact with children are required to have undertaken Safeguarding 1.

In keeping with Sport Ireland best practice in Safeguarding training, workshops will be limited to 16 participants. In keeping with norms across the sporting community, the cost for this workshop is E20. 

Register here: https://shout.com/s/5tP2AMoB

Month	Date/Time	Delivery
Feburary	Wednesday 19th 18.30-21.30: Completed	online
March	Friday 28th 14.00-17.00: Completed	online
April	Tuesday 15th 18.30-21.30: Completed	online
May	Monday 19th18.30-21.30: Completed	online
June	Wednesday 25th 18.30-21.30: Completed	online
July	Saturday 26th 10.00-13.00: Completed	online
August	Friday 22nd 14.00-17.00: COMPLETED	online
September	Monday 22nd 18.30-21.30: COMPLETED	online
October	Wednesday 22nd 18.30-21.30	online
November	Tuesday 18th 18.30-21.30	online
December	Wednesday 4th 18.30-21.30	online

Safeguarding Two

The aim of this workshop is to help the Club Children’s Officer to carry out their role and support the implementation of best practice in the club. Participants will also receive a Club Children’s Officer Action Planning document as part of the training.

In keeping with Sport Ireland best practice in Safeguarding training, workshops will be limited to 16 participants. In keeping with norms across the sporting community, the cost for this workshop is E20. 

Register here: https://shout.com/s/o3NuYG4s

Quarter	Date/Time	Delivery
Quarter 1-Feburary: COMPLETED	12th 18.30-21.230	online
Quarter 2-May: COMPLETED	22nd 18.30-21.30	online
Quarter 2- August: COMPLETED	18th 18.30-21.30	online
Quarter 2- December	11th 18.30-21.30	online

In 2024, IABA delivered 14 Safeguarding 1 basic awareness courses, online and in person, providing this vital learning to 207 coaches and club administrators. IABA also delivered two Safeguarding Two courses to 28 Club Children’s Officers.

Registration for the AGM of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association closes tomorrow, Thursday, at 2pm. The AGM will take place at 10:30am or shortly thereafter, on Saturday, October 11th at the Girdwood Community Hub, 10 Girdwood Avenue, Belfast BT146EG.

The agenda, in full, is available here

Letter from the Chair

IABA Board of Directors Chair, Niall O’Carroll, is sharing this letter with all members, clubs, county boards and provincial units. This sets out the rationale for the Ordinary Resolution before the members, and shares information on a the Boxing Congress which will give every member of every club the opportunity to debate, exchange ideas and elevate our sport.

Ordinary Resolution

“That, on foot of the overwhelming vote (99%)  at the EGM to join World boxing that the members resolve that it is for the good of boxing in Ireland to disaffiliate with the International Boxing Association (IBA) and to affiliate solely with World Boxing and to give effect to same in the Rules and administration documents in IABA.”

Annual Report and Financial Statement

Registration

All clubs successfully affiliated for the 2025/2026 season are entitled to attend the AGM, and may send two delegates – one to be voting, and one non-voting delegate.  

Delegates nominated by clubs must verified members – this means they must be included in the club’s affiliation application, through Blocworx, for the 2025/2026 season as members and be over the age of 18. *Please note, delegates will be required to present photographic identification (passport, drivers’ licence, etc) on the day of the AGM. Registration will close at 2pm on Thursday October 9th.

Successfully affiliated clubs may register here: https://shout.com/s/XZpp2Msp

Team Ireland’s Sean McCukser has won, at minimum, at European U19 Championship silver medal.

He up-grade his bronze medal by way of stylish and dominant 5-0 win over Greece’s Petros Nearchos Konstantinoudis. Judges scored the bout: 28:29; 27:30; 27:30; 28:29; 28:29.

Sean will face Georgia’s Luka Chkhikvadze in Thursday’s final, having recorded wins during this championship over England’s Isaac Huczmann, Estonia’s Aleksandr Jivoloup and Finland’s Aapo Rovanper.

105 female and 189 male boxers from 33 nations are competiting in Ostrava. The participating nations are: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Semi Finals

Four more Team Ireland boxers contest for finals berths on the second day of semi-finals on Wednesday.

Team Co-Captain, 51kg Kayleigh Byrne, is up first. She boxes in Bout 2 of the Afternoon Session against England’s Ruby White – the 2024 World and European Youth champion, and 2023 European champ.

In the Evening Session, 57kg Grace Conway contests against Elise Mirela Cojocaru of Romania for a place in the final; that’s Bout 2.

In Bout 4, 75kg Nessa Tabachuk makes her tournament debut against Italy’s Miriam di Savino – while 2023 World and 2024 European Junior Champ, John Donoghue, takes on Greece’s Emmanouil Fotiadis in Bout 5.

The schedule, in full, is here. All finals will be boxed on Thursday, October 9th.

Watch

The tournament is being live-streamed by the Czech Boxing Federation on its YouTube channel HERE. Links, per ring and session, will become available on the day of boxing

Team Ireland

48kg Chloe Cox, Setanta BC, Co. Kildare

50kg Kurt Kinsella, Monkstown BC Dublin

51kg Kayleigh Byrne, Gorey BC, Co. Wexford

55kg Michael Reilly. St. Paul’s BC, Co. Waterford

57kg Grace Conway, Tredagh BC, Co. Louth

60kg Sean McCusker, Dealgan BC, Co. Louth

65kg John Donoghue, Olympic BC, Co. Westmeath

70kg Katelyn Butler, St. Colman’s BC Co. Cork

70kg Patrick Kelly, St. Abban’s/Kilmyshall BC Co. Wexford

75kg Nessa Tabachuk, Celtic Eagles BC, Co. Galway

75kg Jason Whelan, Dublin Docklands BC

85kg Chulainn McDonnell, Whitechurch BC, Dublin

90kg Shay O’Dowd, Swords BC Dublin

Support staff:

Team Manager: Jennifer O’Sullivan, Sliabh Luachra BC, Kerry

Coaches: Liam Cunningham, Saints ABC, Belfast; Ralph McKay, St. Paul’s BC, Belfast; Aoife Hennigan. Swinford BC, Co. Mayo; Garry Keogh, Marble City BC, Co. Kilkenny

IABA and the NSPCC are celebrating Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport Week, which honours that the part a parent/guardian and carer plays in their child’s sport can have a big impact on their child’s wellbeing and how they feel about sport.

This year’s campaign runs 6-12 October 2025. Sports and parents are being asked to play their part and talk to their children about how they can bring out their best through positive actions and support. 

The NSPCC has made a suite of resources available for parents, guardians and carers – it is available here

How to play your part 

1. Listen to your child – do they play sport for fun, for friendship or because they enjoy the competition? And how do they want you to support them? Some children love loud cheers of encouragement, while others prefer a quieter show of support like a hand signal or a smile.
2. Keep sport fun – make children feel good by praising effort and progress as well as performance. Help them cope with difficult situations like team selections and competitions with encouragement and constructive feedback. 
3. Respect everyone – show what great sportsmanship looks like by cheering on the whole team, and respecting the coach and officials (even if you disagree with their decisions).
4. See something, say something – are adults shouting insults, criticising mistakes or challenging official decisions? Raise any issues with your club’s welfare officer or match day official.

What you do and what you say will make a difference to how your child feels, but it also makes a difference to how safe they are in their sport.

Additional Supports

If you are worried about anything that may cause harm to your child’s wellbeing, you can always contact the NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk 

You can contact IABA’s National Safeguarding Manager, Stephen Flynn via +353 86 074 8867 or stephen@iaba.ie or Liam Corr (IABA Ulster Safeguarding Manager) liam.corr@iaba.ie tel: 0044-7841-470301.

There are 4 days left for member clubs to register to attend the AGM of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association. The AGM will take place at 10:30am or shortly thereafter, on Saturday, October 11th at the Girdwood Community Hub, 10 Girdwood Avenue, Belfast BT146EG.

The agenda, in full, is available here

Letter from the Chair

IABA Board of Directors Chair, Niall O’Carroll, is sharing this letter with all members, clubs, county boards and provincial units. This sets out the rationale for the Ordinary Resolution before the members, and shares information on a the Boxing Congress which will give every member of every club the opportunity to debate, exchange ideas and elevate our sport.

Ordinary Resolution

“That, on foot of the overwhelming vote (99%)  at the EGM to join World boxing that the members resolve that it is for the good of boxing in Ireland to disaffiliate with the International Boxing Association (IBA) and to affiliate solely with World Boxing and to give effect to same in the Rules and administration documents in IABA.”

Annual Report and Financial Statement

Registration

All clubs successfully affiliated for the 2025/2026 season are entitled to attend the AGM, and may send two delegates – one to be voting, and one non-voting delegate.  

Delegates nominated by clubs must verified members – this means they must be included in the club’s affiliation application, through Blocworx, for the 2025/2026 season as members and be over the age of 18. *Please note, delegates will be required to present photographic identification (passport, drivers’ licence, etc) on the day of the AGM. Registration will close at 2pm on Thursday October 9th.

Successfully affiliated clubs may register here: https://shout.com/s/XZpp2Msp