May 22, 2015
London Olympian Boxers and current National Senior Elite Champions, Darren O’ Neill and Adam Nolan were on hand to help launch the new IABA loyalty card programme today at the National Stadium, which has been the home of Irish Boxing since 1939.
The programme which is powered by Lyoness, enables members to have a loyalty card that gives up to 5% Cashback when used at a range of local businesses and online stores across the country, both North and South. Besides Cashback, IABA members and supporters receive Shopping Points for every purchase made at online and offline Lyoness loyalty merchants, which can be redeemed for exclusive deals on branded products or services.
Clubs across Ireland will be contacted to ensure that all members will have the opportunity to become part of the new loyalty programme. ‘The IABA is delighted to be able to have a way of saying thank you to its supporters, who are crucial to the success of boxing in Ireland,’ said IABA CEO, Fergal Carruth. ‘The new loyalty programme provides benefits to our members and more importantly to our Boxing Clubs across the country which will benefit from the shopping of our members through the unique friendship bonus built into the programme, so everyone’s a winner!’
Also speaking at the launch today, Lyoness Managing Director, Michael English said; ‘Lyoness is very pleased to be partnering with the IABA, one of Ireland’s most prestigious sporting organisations. We hope to welcome many new members to our growing shopping community and help them to support their local clubs by doing something we do every day – shopping!’
This is the only card on the market to offer cash back and discounts across a broad range of businesses, both local and online with many well-known brands. Other loyalty cards on the market are restricted to a particular business and benefits are often time limited. Customers shopping with Lyoness loyalty businesses will quickly see the cash back accumulate in their bank account.
ABOUT THE IABA:
Established in 1911, the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s (IABA) main role is to develop, foster and control amateur boxing in the 32 counties of Ireland. The IABA is committed to provide the environment in which support and opportunities given to our athletes, coaches and club excel, and in doing so to increase participation and improve performance in Irish Boxing. The IABA operates form the National Stadium in Dublin, the only purpose built amateur boxing stadium in the world and there are currently over 375 clubs affiliated to the association across the island of Ireland. Over its illustrious 104 year history, it has grown to become one of Ireland’s most successful Olympic Sport with 16 medals.
ABOUT LYONESS
Lyoness was founded in 2003 in Austria as an international shopping community which was designed to increase the buying power of members through working together. Lyoness members receive cashback and other rewards with each and every purchase they make, while Lyoness merchants are able to offer these rewards as they benefit from increased sales through a loyal base of members choosing to shop with them. It now has over 4 million members worldwide who can shop at over 40,000 businesses.
FOR PRESS ENQURIES:
Robert Connolly – Commercial Manager, IABA
e: robert@iaba.ie
T: 01 453 3371
May 21, 2015
We are delighted to let you know that the Coca‑Cola Thank You Fund has just been launched for 2015. The Fund is helping people to become more active, more often by providing €125,000 in major funding for new ideas to get local communities moving.
The five grants of €25,000 will reward the important work done by not-for-profit organisations all over Ireland and Northern Ireland by funding a range of community-based activity projects.
Over the four years since the Thank You Fund launched, €500,000 has been donated to more than 40 not-for-profit, voluntary and charitable organisations.
The Federation of Irish Sport and The Northern Ireland Sports Forum are partnering with the Fund once again in 2015.
Looking for some inspiration for your application? Watch this video of Canoeing Ireland’s Kayak Instructor Training Initiative which received €25,000 from the Fund last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5jR0fyLHyk
Click here to apply for this year’s Fund before the Monday, 29th June 2015 deadline.
May 20, 2015
IAFA makes Irish sporting history – first ever national level mens game with two female officials.
American football officials, Carla Nico and Kelly Dwyer made history last Sunday, when for the first time ever in Irish sport, a mens’ national league game in a field sport was presided over by a crew which included two women.
Carla and Kelly were part of five person crew which officiated the Mullingar Minotaurs versus Waterford Wolves game played in Mulligar on 17th May. Carla, who recently moved to Ireland, is an experienced official who previously officiated at semi-pro level in Brazil. Kelly qualified as a Level 1 official in Ireland earlier this year.
The Irish American Football Association is no stranger to making firsts in female participation. Coach Sarah Matthews of the Dundalk Mavericks is believed to be the only female Head Coach of a mens’ team playing at national league level in any sport in Ireland. Sarah follows in the footsteps of Lara Sleator of the Carrickfergus Knights, who coached for a number of years before becoming the Knights team manager.
www.americanfootball.ie
May 20, 2015
2015 World Taekwondo Championships – Chelyabinsk Russia
The Irish Taekwondo Union were represented at the World Taekwondo Federation [WTF] World Championships by 5 players who competed from 12-18th May at the Tractor Arena, Chelyabinsk, Russia. Local athlete & April Sportsperson of the Month, Jack Woolley was in action on 22nd May in his -54kg division. The youngster, still a junior in age at just 16 was selected to attend this senior event due to a promising start to his senior career, where he has picked up major ranking points this year at 3 major events, the US Open, Dutch Open & Spanish Open.
Jack Woolley –World Championship quarter Finalist 2015
The draw for the event saw Jack seeded in the event giving him a 1st round match against non seeded Bulgarian Kayolan Binev which proved to be a good opening match where Jack remained in control throughout winning the match 12-4.The second round appeared to be a much tougher test where Jack drew Aleksander Kuvarsin from Turkmenistan who had defeated the world no 6 from USA in his preliminary match. ‘With no video footage online to study this was a case of going into the match quite blind’, noted Coach Taaffe. The closely fought 3 round thriller ended 8-6 in favour of the South Dublin Taekwondo player. After a short break, Jack proceed to compete with the Azerbaijani Mikayil Alyiev in what was to prove to be his most taxing challenge to date. The rigorous energy sapping match took almost 12 minutes with a long break for a video replay in the final round, Coach Taaffe noted, ‘To be honest,. the video replay was not only to seek the possible head points, both players were running on empty due to the physicality of the match, and i felt Jack could use the breathing space to guarantee he could hold onto his lead.’.
The match ended 21-13 in favour of Team Ireland, which put Jack into a n unprecedented 1/4 final match with Brazil’s Venitilon Teixeira. The player & coach pairing of Woolley & Taaffe were familiar with the Brazilian as Jack had shared the podium with the player earlier in the year in Orlando, where the Brazilian won the US Open. This match was the end of the road for Jack, who’s kicking, match management & style of taekwondo inspired a nation back home who were watching with so much support. The match finished 21-7 to Brazil who ran away with the lead early in the match and led to Ireland’s struggle to claw the points back. There was agony & ecstasy within a few hours in Russia, the emotions in the ring and outside were incredible. This collection of performances led to Jack being placed 5th at the world Championships in a field of 67 players.
After the event Jack noted many thanks to all who assisted him, ‘Thanks to the Irish Taekwondo Union and my Club South Dublin Taekwondo for all the support. I am looking forward to getting back to training & assisting others back home in return for all this help.’
Jack had traveled to Russia alongside a large Irish delegation of 5 players & 4 officials. The team selected was Ireland’s largest at this level for some time, which speaks volumes on the development of WTF Taekwondo in Ireland currently. Other players who attended include Conor Grassick [-68kg], Shane Lynch [+87kg], Claire Toland [-57kg] and Chloe Aboud [-67kg], who was formerly of the ITF Style of Taekwondo, and crossed over to seek possible Olympic Championships representation. Each of the 5 team members trained and competed together proudly as integral parts of the overall performance, and whilst the other 4 unfortunately did not win their opening match, all had given very respectable performances against some of the worlds best opposition.
The event was attended by over 1000 athletes from the 205 member nations of the WTF. Current World and Olympic Champions graced the mats which were inspiring to the travelling Irish Team. The team officials included President Martin Fleming, Coaches Robert Taaffe & Brian McKenna & Head of Team Laura McKenna. The delegation of 9 made some strong in-roads into Ireland’s standing at this level and it is hoped many more Irish Taekwondo players or can reap the rewards from a grueling trip to Russia.
There were some ancillary moments to note from the Worlds Championships. President Fleming, who is also a European Taekwondo Union Council Memebr attended the 2015 WTF General Assembly where many decisions on the future of the WTF are typically made. There was also an astonishing opening ceremony to the event where a major milestone in World Taekwondo was made where the WTF had invited the ITF Demonstration team to come along to perform. Both teams excited the crowd with their spectacular performances and showed a great sign of solidarity between the 2 groups most of whom came from North Korea [ITF] and South Korea [WTF], which is further to developments last year where The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) have signed a historic memorandum which will open up dialogue and increase collaboration between the two organizations for the benefit of the entire global sport.
WTF President Chungwon Choue and ITF President Ung Chang signed the memorandum on Aug. 21, 2014 in a ceremony in Nanjing, China during the Youth Olympic Games.
As part of the agreement, athletes currently registered to the WTF and ITF will be free to compete in one and the other’s competitions under the rules of each organization, creating new exciting opportunities and ensuring that the world’s very best taekwondo athletes can compete in the world’s very best taekwondo tournaments.
Baku European Games 2015 Update
Chloe Aboud will go straight back into training when she returns from her World Championship debut. Chloe continues her preparation as Ireland’s only Taekwondo practitioner in the inaugural European games next month.
Chloe Aboud
Coach Robert Taaffe
Jack Woolley and ITU President Martin Fleming
May 6, 2015
The MARS Milk Play Fund has now been officially launched. Through the Fund, there will be 49 cash rewards donated over a five month period to sports individuals, projects and clubs.
Each week, two deserving applicants will be selected to receive a donation of €300. There will also be a monthly €1,000 award, where the public can vote for their favourite sports entry.
There will also be some amazing gadgets given away as part of the total fund.
For more information, please go to http://www.marsmilk.com/
