Boxing in Birr has had something of an erratic history. Boxing clubs have come and gone. The present Birr Boxing Club owes its origin to the inspiring effect of the London 2012 Olympic Games in which many of the Irish Boxers distinguished themselves, several from the Travelling Community and one of them a woman, Katie Taylor, winning a Gold Medal. That inspiration moved Mary Hutchinson of Crinkle, Birr, a foundation member of the Birr Traveller and Settled People’s Group, to propose to the group that it should encourage the formation of a boxing club in Birr that would provide instruction, practice and performance for young people from across the entire community, girls, boys, young women, young men, Traveller, Settled and without any other possible kind of distinction. The Birr Traveller and Settled People’s Group agreed with enthusiasm. A Working Party was established. Brendan Hutchinson, Patrick Hutchinson, John Pardy and Mark Pardy were at the core of its membership. They were supported by Mary Hutchinson, Councillor John Carroll, Liam Bergin, the late Pascal Campbell and Father Michael Reddin who hosted meetings in his home. Michael Hanna and Salters Sterling provided convening and secretarial services for the Working Party. The first meeting proper was in January 2013. By June of that year much of the preparatory work for launching the Club had been completed.
The first objective of the club was defined as to have respect for self and respect for others at the core of its being and its activity. The club is to teach and encourage self-discipline. It is to teach and encourage a healthy life-style. It is to teach the art and the skills of boxing as sport, with that same art and those same skills to be used outside sport only and always as a means of self-defence when absolutely necessary.
In parallel people were invited to volunteer and train to be coaches; arrangements were made for Garda vetting and a child protection policy was developed for the club in accordance with the requirements of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, who were most helpful in the establishing and organisation of the Club. Intending coaches began to attend meetings of the IABA Leinster Region. By summer 2013 it was clear that a club could be established and would almost certainly flourish. Two matters remained unresolved, the finding of club premises and the provision of club equipment. Of these the premises proved the more difficult. Unused equipment requiring storage was discovered in Roscrea and with a financial arrangement put in place became the working property of the proposed club in Birr.
Looking for premises the Working Party walked the streets of Birr. Little seemed available and what there was had defects such as restricted access, too limited a ring space, rental cost and repair and maintenance requirements. On occasion despair would seem to undermine hope but persistence won the day. A friend of Liam Bergin’s came into possession of a premises on The Green and was willing to make them available on the terms of a very generous lease. The summer of 2014 was spent putting the ground floor in order and with equipment installed the club was ready for a launch start in September of that year. The club was an immediate success, recruiting some thirty regular members who trained twice a week in two sessions per evening. When the premises on The Green were offered for sale Birr Boxing Club sought new premises and a property on Glebe Street, which had not been available in 2014, was secured in 2018 through the most generous kindness of Mrs. Sally Nugent and her family. Since 2018 it has been the home of the club. At the same time Birr 20|20 Vision began to share responsibility for the club with Birr Traveller and Settled People’s Group, the provision of appropriate insurance being a very practical factor in this developing relationship.
Like all contact sports boxing in Birr was affected by the pandemic of Covid-19. The leadership of the club took a very responsible position about reopening and did not attempt to do so before September 2022. In the interval, reflection concluded that the leadership that had initiated the club needed to be refreshed and arising from consultation with a wide range of interests a new committee took office in June 2023. This new committee, at the request of parents, agreed to introduce a summer boxing programme and with that in place and with a much greater use of social media to advertise its activities Birr Boxing Club is well placed to face the future.
