Only days after coaching Michael Conlon to become Ireland’s first ever male Boxing World Champions Billy Walsh has stepped away from the role of Head Coach with Irish Boxing’s High Performance Unit.
It was flagged some months ago and while Sport Ireland in particular had acted to remove any issue of financial shortfall there was clearly another agenda within the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. It appears that elements within the IABA felt that Walsh was perhaps asking and certainly getting too much credit for the delivery of seven Olympic medals over the last two Games and bringing World Champions through in Katie Taylor and Michael Conlon.
The IABA statement issued last night says that “The IABA has been in discussions with Billy following his approach to the organisation to seek improved terms and conditions after he stated that he had received an offer from USA Boxing. The IABA is deeply disappointed not to retain his valued services, and for the avoidance of any doubt, the IABA has done its utmost to retain Billy Walsh as Head Coach. However, Billy himself has made the decision to resign and take up a position with USA Boxing, and we wish him every success with this.”
Financial
Terms and Conditions in employment language generally means salary and that was an element of Walsh’s request to be treated in a better manner after the approach from America. Sport Ireland recognised his value to the team and as a talisman for the whole of Olympic focused High Performance sport here and a financial package is believed to have been agreed that would have given him a base salary of just under €80,000 a year.
This would still have been well short of the new offer but in Walsh’s eyes that was never the core element.
This was about control. Control of the right to pick a team and run a high performance division on his own terms.
The IABA statement also references “that the exceptionally high skill levels of boxing being taught throughout the clubs of Ireland continue to nurture the rich talent required to succeed at the highest level. This conveyor belt of boxing talent will continue to be developed and coached by the dedicated High Performance Unit team, and the IABA is confident of the continuing success of our elite boxing athletes as they prepare for next year’s Olympic Games.”
Reading between the lines
It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to suggest that the High Performance Unit is really only the icing on the cake, and that all the hard work is done at amateur level away from the spotlight, and by coaches whose names are not known in every town in Ireland.
In many ways that is true, but in one vital way it misses the point entirely.
Most of the world are followers. We do our jobs as well as we can inspired to do so by a comment or a word of encouragement from elsewhere. We often live our lives in the same way, doing what we think is best for those who matter.
Some though are leaders. The ones that change things up a gear, that seek improvement all the time, even when their achievements are the kind of ones that inspire others all around them.
Leadership
That’s what Billy Walsh delivered for Irish boxing and Irish sport. Others can coach just as well, others can organise teams just as well but it will be very fortunate if Irish boxing hits lucky a second time in the less definable area of leadership as they did when Billy Walsh himself replaced Gary Keegan in 2007.
Sport Ireland’s statement laid out in clear detail the timeframe and the level of engagement between itself, Minister for Sport Michael Ring and the IABA. It states that at various times agreement seemed to have been reached or that negotiations were progressing towards a conclusion but that never happened.
It concludes that “Sport Ireland will now have to review the outcome of its recent engagement with the IABA.”
This morning there is genuine anger at how this has all played out. More so than would ever be the case in a normal parting of the ways.
Massive job
The coaches that worked with Walsh are all likely to stay, at least through the current Olympic cycle towards Rio. After that who knows. The IABA has a massive job now to convince those in the sport and inspired to become boxers that they will provide the right framework once more to add to the 16 Olympic medals that irish boxers have won down the years.
It’s a huge achievement and this is a huge challenge. It is a shame that the man who asked others to believe and forced them by his own belief to make a difference to how they performed on the biggest stage will not be there.
There are those in the IABA who believe he was ‘just a coach.’ he was more than that, he was a leader, but now he has gone.
There is a real sense that this is a loss not borne of meeting a better opponent on the day but by seeing the future through a different lens than those most of those most interested in producing Irish sporting stars. We hope we are proved wrong.
Image credit: Inpho.ie
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