A YOUNG Irish boxer could lose his chance of competing in the 2012 Olympics if a decision of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association to drop him from next week’s European Youth Championships is allowed to stand, the High Court was told yesterday.
The legal challenge by Michael O’Reilly (18) against the association’s decision not to select him for the Irish youths team on a matter of discipline will continue in the High Court this morning.
O’Reilly, of the Portlaoise Boxing Club, wants the court to grant an injunction preventing the association from “deselecting” him from the squad.
Barrister Michael Conlon, for O’Reilly, is also seeking an order from the High Court directing the association to hold a box-off between O’Reilly and fellow contender Christy Joyce, who has already been selected.
Mr Conlon told Mr Justice John Cooke yesterday that his client could potentially lose a chance to fight for Ireland in the London Olympics if the decision to drop him for European championship selection was not overturned.
He said O’Reilly was a young married man who received a €5,000 grant from the Irish Sports Council to subsidise his amateur boxing career, and if he did not get to the European championship he could lose it.
On the basis of winning at the championships, the grant could be increased to €12,000, so that, too, was at risk.
Mr Conlon told the court O’Reilly was earlier this month attending a training camp at the National Stadium on Dublin’s South Circular Road when he allowed a 17-year-old unlicensed, uninsured fellow competitor to park his van in the underground car park at the stadium.
He said there had been a minor accident which had caused some damage to O’Reilly’s van. O’Reilly had left the training camp to drive to Portlaoise to obtain an estimate for the repair of his van but had returned for training later that evening.
Later he had learned his name had not been put before the officer board by international youth coach Billy McLean for selection on the Irish team and that Joyce, a boxer he had recently heavily outpointed, had been selected instead.
Mr Conlon said deselection was a severe penalty for what the association itself agreed was not a major misdemeanour, but it could have very serious consequences for O’Reilly.
McLean, in an affidavit, said he had not thought it appropriate on the basis of O’Reilly’s breach of regulations by absenting himself without permission from the training camp to recommend him for selection, and had put Joyce’s name forward. O’Reilly claims he had permission from his coach to leave the camp.
The hearing continues today.