Kate Hoey: Shocking that Sandy Row Boxing Club will soon not have a home
I have supported Sandy Row Boxing Club for many years since first hearing of the way their young boxers had been faced with sectarian attacks when competing against other boxing clubs in nationalist areas.
The result was they refused to be part of the Irish Boxing Association and were one of the clubs that tried to set up a Northern Ireland Boxing association so that their youngsters could compete not under the Irish tricolour but the UK flag.
As a result, Belfast City refused to consider them for grants as they insisted they needed to be affiliated to the IBA. Over the years they have had to move premises within the area and have never been able to get a long enough lease to obtain any funding.
Now the club faces eviction from their current premises in St Aiden’s Church which is being sold off and by the end of March they will be homeless.
In an area where illicit activity is prevalent, the Sandy Row Boxing Club takes get pride in not being forced to conform with any illegal organisations in any capacity.
This has meant at various times threats from local paramilitaries or their associates to it.
Courageously, they have carried on giving so many youngsters that early introduction to the discipline of boxing.
The club has relied upon the unwavering dedication and support of volunteers, both coaches and committee members, who donate their time towards ensuring the clubs success.
Throughout its history, none of its coaches or helpers have received a salary for their weekly efforts, despite some volunteers travelling many miles to attend a training session.
This is simply due to the fact that the club’s total financial income each year is devoted towards procuring the necessities to ensure the club stays afloat (medical equipment, rent, rates, utilities, contents and sports insurance, etc).
It is an extremely rare situation in which a boxing coach does not receive a wage within an amateur organisation in Northern Ireland. Without doubt, the club would no longer exist without these volunteers and supporters.
Due to the lack of wealth within the local community, the club feels obliged to keep their membership fees low in order as to not deter the local youth from attending training sessions.
The goal has always been to get these children and young adults through the doors in order to instil the traits of discipline, motivation and respect towards themselves and others.
The Ulster Land and Property Fund, which is part of the Ulster property company linked to the Orange Order, bought St Aidan’s Church Hall for redevelopment into accommodation for young members attending university to stay in while studying. They also purchased a nursing home on the Lisburn Road for the same purpose.
One property has been redeveloped, while the other where the boxing club operates is now being sold.
Whatever the plans for St Aidan’s in the future, the boxing club will be evicted and be homeless.
This whole area is a working-class, traditionally Protestant community.
Properties are often left to sit dormant and are then sold off to developers, seemingly with little regard for the residents and families living nearby.
The planning system, which to many seems broken, contributes to the erasure of this area’s history and turns once-thriving communities into unrecognizable streets filled with apartments.
Sandy Row is one of the most underfunded, undereducated, and neglected communities in Belfast.
St Aidan’s Church Hall, which served as the third home of the local boxing club, is now just another casualty.
What is needed is investment in young, working-class Protestant communities in the same way the Orange Order has supported the education of farmers’ sons attending university in Belfast.
It really is shocking what has happened to the once thriving community surrounding Sandy Row, with few facilities for the young people living on the surrounding estates to enjoy.
No wonder many locals ask just what have their politicians been doing.
One politician who has been solid in his support is TUV councillor Ron McDowell, who represents the nearby Court ward and who is undertaking a search to see exactly who owns the buildings in Sandy Row.
Why has it been so neglected.? Where has all the money gone that was at various times allocated to the area? Many local residents question why the paramilitaries have not been challenged more robustly in that area by elected representatives.
The development of the new transport hub allowed many developers to make large amounts of money in the area with no thought for local people or their needs.
The demolition of the Boyne Bridge too was another example of locals being ignored, as was the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.
l Baroness Hoey is a former Labour MP and sport minister