St Teresa’s in Bray is the latest boxing club to find itself homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They've become the second amateur boxing club in 24 hours to declare themselves with out a home, following Tullow Amateur Boxing Club.
The premises St. Teresa's had occupied was sold from underneath them by their landlord. The club say it was without warning.
They’ve been offered the use of Rathnew’s space - but that’s 29 kilometres away.
St. Teresa’s is home to recently retired European bronze medalist Regan Buckley.
Club coach Mark Buckley wrote on Tuesday night that they had attempted to receive assistance from local authorities.
"We contacted them through 6 different elected councilors [sic] and we were totally dismissed each time," he said.
Tullow Amateur Boxing Club in County Carlow announced yesterday that their landlord refused to freeze rent after they were forced to close their doors in March.
They have approximately 8o members.
In a similarly impassioned post, they wrote, "We are asking the people of Tullow Town for your help to find a premises suitable for a boxing club."
They added, "We are all devastated as you can imagine but unfortunately it is out of our hands. Everything we have done has been on a voluntary basis."
Tullow had recently set up a GoFundMe page to help ease their rent concerns. They raised €215 of their €1000 goal.
They say all those who donated money will be refunded.
The IABA say all boxing activity will be suspended until August 10 at the very earliest as per the government's Roadmap For Reopening Society and Business.
St. Teresa's statement:
We at St.Teresas Bc are currently homeless! The premises that we ran our club had been sold during the lockdown without any warning given to us.
“Our good friends in Rathnew bc have been kind enough to invite us to train with them when the lockdown is over 29km away. But I think it’s crazy that a boxing club in Bray, with multiple, Wicklow, Wexford, Dublin, Leinster, Irish, senior elite champions and a European Olympic bronze medalist who has been recognized [sic] by the community for his achievements cannot secure a premises.
“We offer such an essential service to the community teaching discipline, health and fitness, changing the lives of both young children and adults. It so difficult to keep this service running without any local authorities support in any way.
“We contacted them through 6 different elected councilors [sic] and we were totally dismissed each time.
“So the question now is where do we go from here and who can we look to for help as I honestly don’t know where we can go from here.”
