Boxing Club ‘in shock’ after securing €1.25m for new home

Over one million euro has been put aside to help Jobstown Boxing Club get a new home so that they can take on more potential world champions.

€1,250,000 has been allocated by South Dublin County Council’s three year Capital Fund Programme towards Jobstown BC’s pursuit of a new home after over a year of turning away potential new members in the community due to lack of space and facilities.

Tallaght boxer and 2024 World Youth Champion Adam Olaniyan hails from the local club and has recently gone pro after his success representing them on national and international stages.

Coach Amanda Spencer said that the team over at the club were “in shock” at the funding secured to help them find a new home.

Jobstown currently operate out of “an old shop” that is situated behind Spencer’s home.

“We could double [membership], we have 130 members at the moment. We have to run four or five different classes a day…the club starts at 4pm and a lot of the coaches have full-time jobs and their own kids so it’s a lot of stress on us.

“If we had the bigger facility, we could amalgamate all the classes together.”

No location has been determined as of yet for the new permanent home for Jobstown BC, with a spot in Jobstown Community Centre among those touted.

The conditions they currently train in are not suitable to house the club’s demands.

Spencer noted that the current home of the club is “so small” and can only fit around 10 people inside before it becomes “packed.”

Councillor Louise Dunne expanded on the issues with the current facilities that Jobstown BC operate out of.

Cllr Dunne said: “No heat, no changing rooms, they’re training in appalling conditions during Autumn and Winter, just freezing cold – and they’re still producing the level of athletes that they’re producing.”

“…The coaches are, you know, [there] all day, every day, different classes, and yet they’re having to turn away a huge number of people because they just haven’t got the facilities to cater for them.”

Since their inception in 2015, Jobstown BC have moulded and nurtured over 50 boxers who have won national and international accolades during their time at the gym.

The club’s inability to take on more members in their current home has had an effect on the local community, according to Spencer.

Jobstown BC is getting “bigger and bigger” as time goes by according to the coach and new facilities will help them to continue that growth and support more champions.

“If we had double that building, treble that building, we could take over 300/400 kids a week.

A lot of kids have come knocking on the door and I’ve had to refuse them. They’ve cousins and brothers in the club and I’m putting them on waiting lists and telling them they just have to wait because we don’t have the space.”

That will change soon.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme