A stalwart of Irish boxing, Peter Mullen, of St. Anne’s Boxing Club, Mayo, has been honoured for his many decades of dedication to the sport.
Peter has been named the Mayo winner of the 2021 Federation of Irish Sport Volunteers in Sport Awards, supported by EBS.
Peter was among the founders of St. Anne’s, in 1967. As a boxer, Peter won numerous Mayo and Connacht titles before winning his first Irish Junior Heavyweight title in 1971. He has represented St. Anne’s around the world and led out an Irish boxing team at a parade in Madison Square Garden in New York. Peter is also a highly regarded judge, judging matches at county, provincial and national level. He is a dedicated coach and leader at St. Anne’s and continues to commit his time and effort to the club today.
St. Anne’s, which has won more than 102 national titles, celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018. Peter claimed the club’s first title and has been followed by boxers including Ray Moylette and Shannon Sweeney, who won Elite belts for St Anne’s. Ray put the club on the map internationally after becoming the first Irish boxer to win World Youth gold in Mexico in 2008. Moylette, along with Joe Ward, secured double European Elite gold in Turkey in 2011, to help Ireland finish in 2nd sport in the medals table.
2021 Federation of Irish Sport Volunteers in Sport Awards will take place virtually on December 7th, 8th and 9th and will see Peter, along with volunteers from across the country, honoured for their amazing dedication to volunteering across a variety of different sports.
The Volunteers in Sport Awards celebrate the contributions of the band of volunteers across the country who give their time to Irish sport and physical activity every year. This equates to approximately 37.3 million hours of volunteering across Ireland’s 13,000 registered sports clubs and associations and, according to Sport Ireland’s 2021 ‘Researching the Value of Sport in Ireland’ report, is worth an estimated €1.5bn to the exchequer.
Throughout September and October members of the public, sports clubs and governing bodies were invited to nominate an individual whose contribution to sport and physical activity in Ireland has made a real difference to their community, club or county. The nominations and award recipients were selected by a judging panel consisting of 12 individuals drawn from sports administration, the volunteer community and media, and included former Director General of the GAA, Paraic Duffy, RTÉ broadcaster, Marie Crowe and CEO of Gaisce, Yvonne McKenna.
IABA would like to extend hearty congratulations to Peter on being honoured and recognised for his many years of services to St. Anne’s Boxing Club, and to Irish boxing.
The awards will be streamed live each evening from 7pm on the Federation of Irish Sport’s Facebook page here: with the awards schedule listed below:
• Tuesday, December 7th: Leinster and Special Recognition Award
• Wednesday, December 8th: Munster, Connacht and Special Recognition Award
• Thursday, December 9th: Ulster and Outstanding Achievement Award