On Tuesday, we took aim at both the IABA and the Irish Sports Council for their inexplicable miscommunication and mishandling of a saga which has rocked Irish sport.
Billy Walsh's rather depressing departure from Irish boxing featured on RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday night, with Irish Sports Council chairman Kieran Mulvey unleashing a scathing attack on the IABA, making a legitimate threat to cut their funding should they not offer Walsh the contract that both parties had agreed upon within the next 24 hours.
I assume there are a number of great coaches in Ireland, except we have the best coach in the world in boxing, his record stands for itself and he should be allowed the freedom and opportunity to continue to do a good job.
I’m effectively saying that when the new funding round for 2016 comes up, we will have to review our relationship with the IABA,
Mulvey told Prime Time.
I want a rethink within the next 24 hours by the IABA of their total approach to this – and the acceptance of the total proposal we put to them on August 22nd.
At the end of the day, the Irish taxpayers, through the Irish Sports Council, with the approval of the Minister, are funding it. What’s the problem?
Irish Sports Council Chair Kieran Mulvey gives IABA board 24 hours to rethink Billy Walsh approach or face funding review. #rtept
— RTÉ Prime Time (@RTE_PrimeTime) October 20, 2015
It's far from unprecedented for the ISC to issue such stark threats; back in 2010, the Council warned the IABA that they would withdraw funding if the IABA went through with their plans to install then-Association president Dominic O'Rourke as High Performance Director in Walsh's stead, until a compromise was reached.
Chairman Mulvey was clearly sympathetic towards Walsh's predicament, whereby the legendary coach has been effectively wedged out of the Irish boxing frame against his will, and will now himself become a threat to Irish boxing at the helm of the US national team.
He continued:
Billy Walsh gave up in frustration, all you had to hear was his statement, that of a man who does not want to go to America but is being forced by the petty indignities forced upon him.
Walsh and his family will relocate to Colorado Springs where the Wexford man will begin preparing both women's and men's senior US sides for Rio 2016, with Walsh himself set to fly over early on Thursday to sign on the dotted line.
In truth, despite the sentiment, this is all too little, too late by Mulvey and the ISC. It's an extraordinary oversight by the Council, who have consistently passed the buck since the news first emerged back in August that Walsh was set to depart the Irish setup. Both the timing and the basis of this bullish stance render it borderline redundant.
For one thing, Billy Walsh is gone. He has made it clear that he has already resigned and given the USA his word. Furthermore, the cutting of funding to the IABA would have a direct, tangible effect on Ireland's boxers and the sport in general, which would benefit nobody.
The IABA were already expected to release a statement early on Wednesday.
