{"id":25982,"date":"2025-03-30T04:37:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T04:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/dungannon-boxing-club-uniting-diverse-communities\/"},"modified":"2025-03-30T04:37:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T04:37:59","slug":"dungannon-boxing-club-uniting-diverse-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/dungannon-boxing-club-uniting-diverse-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Dungannon boxing club uniting diverse communities"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Niall McCracken<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News NI Mid Ulster Reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dungannon Boxing Club was formed in 1987<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“A few years ago I was going through a really rough period in my life, then I joined the boxing club, and honestly it gave me a reason to live.”<\/p>\n

Eoin Mellon from County Tyrone only started boxing in his late teens, but said it has had a profound impact on his life.<\/p>\n

He is part of a group of young men from diverse backgrounds who are coming together through a boxing club in Dungannon.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old from Ballygawley added: “No one is ever judged in this club for what they believe in or what race, religion or ethnicity they are, everybody is treated as an equal.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Eoin Mellon started boxing in his late teens<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Dungannon Boxing Club started out in the late 1980s in a garage that was converted into a makeshift gym out the back of Dee Jardine’s father’s house.<\/p>\n

“My father built the garage in 1987, so people would have a place to come and train and have somewhere to bring the community together,” Dee Jardine said.<\/p>\n

Since then, the gym has moved to its own premises on the edge of Dungannon town centre and Dee has taken on the mantle of running the club.<\/p>\n

It’s located in the Milltown area which would traditionally be seen as a Protestant or Unionist part of the town.<\/p>\n

These days Dungannon has one of Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing migrant communities.<\/p>\n

Dee Jardine said in recent years the boxing club has worked hard to make everyone feel welcome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dee Jardine’s father started Dungannon Boxing Club out of his garage in 1987<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“We’re trying to bring to bring different communities under one roof, training together and getting on together and sport has the power to do that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Dungannon is a very multicultural town, so not only do we have people from different religions training side by side, we have a huge amount of different cultures mixing, it’s great to see and I’m proud of it.”<\/p>\n

Dee said all young people are welcome, even those worried about paying a gym membership.<\/p>\n

“As long as they have good work ethic, and they’re polite and respectful, we’ll work something out,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘We’re all united by boxing’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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It’s something that Dee’s son Lee, who boxes at the club, also feels passionate about.<\/p>\n

“There are lads here I would have never met if it wasn’t for the club, Protestant, Catholic, different ethnic backgrounds, it doesn’t matter, we’re all united by boxing, it’s a very mixed community,” the 17-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“Boxing has taught me a lot life lessons including discipline and resilience, and we may fight in the ring, but outside when we see each other in town or whatever, we’re all mates.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lee Jardine says the boxing club has helped him connect with other young people from different communities <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Matthew has been boxing for five years.<\/p>\n

The 16-year-old said the gym had created a community.<\/p>\n

“I’ve made it to the All-Ireland’s twice and I’m dying to get back, so it gives me focus and something to strive towards.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Matthew and Richard Neill are active members of Dungannon Boxing Club<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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After his son joined, Matthew’s father Richard started volunteering at the club after seeing the positive impact boxing had on his son.<\/p>\n

“It’s fantastic, it’s giving young people an outlet, it keeps them out of trouble, and it does no harm to get me out of the house as well,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dungannon Boxing Club members train up to three times a week<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The club suffered a setback last month when its gym was broken into.<\/p>\n

“There was some money stolen, doors damaged, a TV damaged, but you can’t let it get you down and the community have been great in lending a helping hand,” said Dee.<\/p>\n

He added that the club was about more than boxing and had become a social community hub.<\/p>\n

“Boxing is a grassroots sport and has always thrived in working class areas, it takes very little to get into it and thrive in it and it really does build character.<\/p>\n

“Three nights a week it gives our young people a place to go and we’re always encouraging them to think about their education and their careers.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Organisers of Dungannon Boxing Club says its doors are open to everyone<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The club has plans to host a number of boxing tournaments in the coming months.<\/p>\n

But for members like Eoin Mellon, it’s less about silverware and more about the life lessons he is learning.<\/p>\n

He added: “At times when I’ve felt down, boxing has taught me that just like in life, you can fall down, and you have your losses.<\/p>\n

“But like boxing, no matter what happens, if you keep at it, keep training, keep pushing towards your goals, you’ll get there.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Niall McCracken BBC News NI Mid Ulster Reporter BBC Dungannon Boxing Club was formed in 1987 “A few years ago I was going through a really rough period in my life, then I joined the boxing club, and honestly it gave me a reason to live.” Eoin Mellon from County Tyrone only started boxing in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[7607,2877,3994,9306,9304,9305],"class_list":["post-25982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-n-ireland","tag-boxing","tag-club","tag-communities","tag-diverse","tag-dungannon","tag-uniting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25984,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25982\/revisions\/25984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}