St Anne’s legend Peter wins award

WELL DESERVED Well-known boxing coach Peter Mullen is pictured with his wife Maureen and his 'Volunteers in Sport' award.

MAYO boxing legend Peter Mullen from Westport has been named as the Mayo recipient of the 2021 ‘Volunteer In Sport’ Award.
The well-known St Anne’s Boxing Club coach, who has been involved in boxing for as long as he cares to remember, was nominated for the award by Angela Corduff and Mel Hegarty from St Anne’s Boxing Club.
He will be among volunteers from all 32 counties who will be honoured at the annual Volunteers in Sport Awards.
The event will be hosted virtually by the Federation of Irish Sport on December 7-9.
When The Mayo News contacted Mullen yesterday afternoon (Monday), he revealed that he originally got involved in boxing ‘by accident’.
“I was mad about football when I was younger. I got working in PJ Kelly’s and I got to know a fella in there named Brendan Heneghan. He was mad about boxing and cycling and he brought me along to the club.
“We tried to form a club there in ‘65. but it fell apart. So myself and himself went to Castlebar for a year in ’66. Then in ‘67 a fella called John McGreal came home from England and he called a meeting for Sunday morning, 11th of October, 1967 and he formed St Anne’s Boxing Club. And we’re there since!”
After a good ten years in the ring, which brought him to faraway places like America and Yugoslavia, Peter Mullen became involved in coaching the next generation.
Since then, he has put several generations of West Mayo boxers through his hands.
“We were always helping out, the big fellas helping the kids. You might do an hour beforehand and then you’d train away,” he explained.
“Boxing was very good to me,” he added. “I always thought it’d be nice if kids could get what I got. I love helping out with the young kids.”
A spokeswoman for the Federation of Irish Sport said: “The Volunteers in Sport Awards celebrate the contributions of the band of volunteers across the country who give their time to Irish sport and physical activity every year.
This equates to approximately 37.3 million hours of volunteering across Ireland’s 13,000 registered sports clubs and associations and, according to Sport Ireland’s 2021 ‘Researching the Value of Sport in Ireland’ report, is worth an estimated €1.5bn to the exchequer.”
The awards will be streamed live each evening from 7pm on the Federation of Irish Sport’s Facebook page via the following link: https://www.facebook.com/federationofirishsport/

Oisín McGovern