‘They have created houses upon houses but no sporting facilities’

There’s an old saying associated with boxing but which could apply to life itself. “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up.”

It’s a saying the founder of Jonnstown Boxing Club, Phil Rooney, could relate to. The club he was involved in setting up about 15 years ago is about to move home for the sixth time.

The club members have to leave their current home, above O’Dwyer’s old pub in Johnstown, by the beginning of March - but so far they have found no other location they can move to with the threat of homelessness hanging over Johnstown BC like a sword of Damocles.

Rooney and his club colleagues have gone through the process of moving home so many times now any excitement that goes with re-locating to a new premises has lost all lustre.

“Like everything else when you move there is costs involved. If you find a place there is always more money needed to start again and do it up. Paint it. Move equipment, get new equipment,” he said as he sat in a café in Johnstown and spoke about the latest challenge facing Johnstown BC.

Sometimes he feels he can’t be bothered going through the whole rigmarole again but, he adds, he is spurred on by combination of memories from his own youth and what he sees going on around him in Johnstown.

Rooney participated in boxing as a young man with St Pappin’s BC in Ballymun, where he grew up. He knows how a local boxing club can be a place of refuge, especially for those who might not shine in other activities such as soccer, rugby or Gaelic games.

In a wider context he is fully aware how sport is one of the most powerful antidotes to the steady disintegration of society itself - and he feels the fabric of life in places like Johnstown is under threat.

“I tell people I’m from Ballymun, I’ve seen the future and it’s coming here. I try to tell people here. Johnstown, Navan is a lovely place. I wanted to move down here because I wouldn’t rear kids in Dublin, I knew the way Dublin was going, all the drugs, all the gangs.

“I came from a very respectable home where I was taught to do the right thing, but growing up I saw people from my area dying of Aids, because of drugs overdose, whole families on heroin, not just kids, mothers, fathers, kids. Drugs devastated Ballymun and, as we know, it’s spreading from Dublin.

“I know from hanging around these people and being up in Dublin, I know when there is a deal going on. I’ve seen deals taking place right here in Johnstown.”

Rooney, a glazier by trade, moved to live in Johnstown from the capital close on 20 years now. He and his wife Louise wanted to make a new home where they could raise their family.

He was content at first, however his unease has intensified as he has watched Johnstown grow with little or no sporting facilities provided for young people.

“What will happen is that I and other people will give up on this area because you can only ask so much of councillors and others but they have done nothing for this area except build houses. They have created this area, the County Council. They have created houses upon houses but no sporting facilities.”

When the economy took a down turn around 2008 Rooney, who has retained an interest in boxing, hung up a punching bag or two in a shed behind his house just to give him an outlet to exercise. Neighbours joined in. He acquired another premises and found people started to look at getting their kids involved in boxing. He saw the need.

He set up a BoxFit fitness enterprise for adults but he could also see a need for a boxing club for youngsters too.

He knew how they could benefit by participating in the sport. He tells a story of how one set of parents were delighted to see their youngster get involved in the boxing and relate to others instead of being marooned in his room playing video games. The parents shed tears when they saw him integrate, he says.

“As I say to the kids you don’t have to box competitively. You make the decision. I’ll make the decision then whether they are up to it.” Some kids really blossomed in the ring with national and provincial titles won at under-age levels.

Over the years a recurring theme has unfolded. Johnstown BC would find a home only to have to move after a few years.

“We used to get places where you’d get a three or four-year lease, you’d never get five year lease, because then you would have rights.”

There has been talk of Meath Co Council building a sports centre in Johnstown but Rooney remains sceptical. Now they have to move again.

Now they have to find a new home – again. Rooney and others involved with Johnstown BC might be encouraged by a line attributed to the great Muhammid Ali himself. “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it.”