Future of long established Boxing Club in Offaly in doubt

THE future of Cloghan Boxing Club is in doubt after the club lost what was its long time home in Banagher.

The Club had used a hall at Quigley's Hall in Banagher for almost 20 years but that premises was put up for sale last year forcing the club to seek alternative accommodation for training.

They used a couple of different venues for training over the last year but the club have now said that without a permanent place to call their own, another valuable club might be lost to the Banagher and Cloghan areas.

Cloghan Boxing Club was always a very strong club and they enjoyed a lot of success over the years. Their long time base was Quigley's Hall and over the years they invested money in developing their area in that premises, with insulation, plastering walls, adding dressing rooms and laying concrete floors.

The club said it understands that the owners are fully entitled to sell the premises but it did express the hope that any prospective new owners might be amenable to allowing them to stay there or to sell them the portion of the building that they used.

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If they are not successful in achieving that they will have to find a new home and that will not be an easy prospect.

The club pointed out that at one time there were seven boxing clubs in Offaly but that is now down to three, which they feel isn't a good thing. One of the others is Birr and they also have to move from their current premises next year. They have spoken to Birr and discussed a range of possibilities, including a possible joint venture where the two clubs would come together and form a South and West Offaly Boxing Club.

Ideally they would both like to maintain their independence to continue providing a service for boxers in both areas.

Cloghan Boxing Club is an all-inclusive club and caters for a lot of different groups, both male and female.

Over the years the club premises has been used for a variety of different purposes, including for a number of fundrasing events, which included white collar boxing.

Over the last year Cloghan have availed of the facilities at Birr Boxing Club for training and also used the facilities at the hall upstairs at the GAA Field in Cloghan but feel they need a permanent home. They had about 20 boxers at the start of last year but that was down to 5-6 by the end of the year and a lot of that was down to the fact that they didn't have a home and a regular training pattern. When they were in Banagher they had regular sessions on set nights each week but last year they didn't have that as they were dependent on the availability of the other premises they were using.

They also have a lot of equipment which they use for training and having to move that about to different venues for training sessions wasn't easy.

The Club hope that a solution can be found and that they can find a permanent home as without that the future of the long established club is in doubt.

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