Irish Sports Council urges IABA to act quickly over Billy Walsh

The Irish Sports Council (ISC) has confirmed in a statement a version of events that may have pushed Ireland head coach Billy Walsh away from Irish boxing and towards a career in the USA.

The council say they had come to an agreement with the successful coach but that the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA), who are the employers of Walsh, decided not to present the proposal to their board.

Instead an IABA sub-committee suggested a different version of the agreement between Walsh and the ISC, which was unacceptable. Walsh is said to have accepted an offer to coach the US women’s boxing team.

The ISC also say that they were aware of approaches being made to Walsh as far back as February of this year and from the outset made it clear to him they wanted him to remain in Ireland and take the Irish boxing team to Rio.

“Following a series of talks the ISC presented a proposal which addressed the needs and concerns of all parties. The proposal was to be brought to the board of the IABA on 25 August,” said the statement.

“On the 25 August the ISC was informed that the proposal would not be presented to the board and that a sub-committee was suggesting a new version that was substantially different to the original proposal. In effect this unilateral action ended the ISC’s initiative. It is not aware of any progress over the past few days. It has advised the IABA to act quickly and to revert to the original proposal if the situation is to be resolved.”

The ISC council also said they were disappointed that agreement had not been reached and pointed out that Walsh is fundamental to the development of the high performance systems that have repeatedly returned medals on the World, Olympic and European stage.

Astonishingly, the ISC had not heard from the IABA at close of business on Friday.

“Since February, the ISC has been aware that Billy had received an offer internationally,” continued the statement. “From the outset, the ISC, made it clear that it wanted to retain Billy Walsh and was available to provide whatever support was required. That said the ISC however recognises that it is a matter for the IABA to resolve.”

Chairman of the Irish Sports Council, Kieran Mulvey, said: "The ISC has been clear and unambiguous in its desire to keep Billy Walsh in Irish sport.

“We communicated clearly to the IABA that we would provide whatever support is necessary to retain Billy. It was our understanding that a framework and agreement had been reached by all parties. The ISC were surprised and extremely disappointed that the proposal was not presented to the IABA board. We urge the IABA to act quickly and decisively in the matter”.