Chief executive of the Irish Sports Council John Treacy has laid the blame for Billy Walsh’s resignation firmly at the feet of the IABA, insisting it backed out a deal to keep the celebrated coach.
Walsh - who led Ireland to Olympic, World and European gold medals - yesterday stepped down from his role as Head Coach of the IABA's Irish High Performance Unit and senior team.
In a statement, Walsh said, that despite eight months of negotiations, the IABA had “not made it possible for me to continue on in the role as Head Coach of the High Performance Unit and senior team.”
Walsh will now join USA Boxing, and help prepare its boxers for next year’s Olympics, but made it clear that his first choice all along was to continue working with the IABA.
"To have that celebrated man treated in that particular way is really disappointing."
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Treacy first paid tribute to Walsh and said. "We’re absolutely devastated. It is terrible day for Irish Sport with the most decorated coach in the county leaving.
"We heard the tributes paid by the likes of Katie Taylor, Paddy Barnes, John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlan talking about the leadership qualities of Billy Walsh. Everyone recognises Billy as the leader of that programme.
"To watch Billy Walsh yesterday sitting on that couch and talk about being undermined and humiliated is appalling. To have that celebrated man treated in that particular way is really disappointing."
Treacy then went on to lay out a timeline of negotiations between Walsh, the IABA and the Sports Council and revealed that hands had been shaken on a contract before the IABA chiefs changed their minds.
"This arose last February," he said. "We probably had 20 to 30 interventions with the IABA to outline the urgency of this because Billy Walsh had an offer on the table.
"The Sports Council met with the IABA in July and we agreed that we’d bring Billy Walsh to the table and negotiate a deal. That happened two days late.
"Kieran Mulvey chaired that session and out of that, everyone shook hands. Billy Walsh was happy with the deal, the IABA appeared to be happy with the deal and we were happy with that deal. Finance was not going to be an issue.
"We got an e-mail on the Monday to say they were taking it to the board and then we heard on the Tuesday a sub-committee on the IABA board decided not to bring it to the board."
Treacy went on to explain that further talks were held with the Minister for Sport Michael Ring joining in an attempt to resolve the impasse.
"Then the Minister intervened and we had another session. The Sports Council was involved and another deal was hammered where Billy Walsh showed incredible flexibility around the financial aspects.
"He agreed to leave his full-time position in the IABA and become a contract worker. That’s a clear indication that Billy Walsh wanted to stay, we wanted to keep him. Money wasn’t the issue, it broke down on the non-financial aspects."
Treacy revealed that there will now be a review of the IABA actions, which could have repercussions for the sports body going forward.
"We will have to go back over this whole issue since it started in February and analyse what was done by the IABA. We certainly were highlighting the urgency in this.
"This clearly is the responsibility of the IABA, they were the employers of Billy Walsh. The Minister was clear that he wanted to keep Billy Walsh, we were clear, the money was put on the table and it broke down on the non-financial aspects."
