February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
The bareknuckle row over RUC boxers fighting in a charity match against the NYPD entered into Round 2 this week as Irish-American leaders called for a halt to the RUC bouts and the management of the original Manhattan venue pulled out.
The tournament was originally set to take place at the Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s West Side. But that venue is no longer available.
Five RUC boxers are to join the Gárda Síochána fighters in the annual charity fight in New York. But in a flurry of faxes last week, Irish-American activists called on New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the police department to rescind the RUC’s invitation, claiming it was an example of insensitivity to the city’s Irish community.
On Monday, Sinn Féin joined the fray. In a letter addressed to Giuliani, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams asked that the mayor use his influence to have the RUC invitation pulled.
"In recent days my office has been inundated with phone calls from Ireland and the USA in relation to the invitation from the NYPD to the RUC boxing team," Adams wrote in part. "In particular, and I fully share this view personally, the most common concern expressed was that this would be used as a cynical and opportunistic PR exercise by the RUC; as an endorsement of the discredited force."
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Adams said the NYPD had unwittingly not grasped upon this aspect of the event.
Fight organizers say the charity boxing match should not stir up a political storm at the expense of a needy cause. This will be the first time the RUC has been invited to the event.
The boxing match is organized by the NYPD and Garda and takes place every year. Teams fight both in New York and Dublin and donate the money collected to charity. This year’s event is to benefit an Irish-American NYPD officer, Daniel O’Sullivan, who was critically injured when he was struck by a drunken driver.
On Monday, management at the Javits Convention Center, where the event was scheduled to take place, informed the NYPD team that they would no longer be able to host the fights, according to NYPD coach Liam Packtor.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the center, which is owned by New York State, cited "operational reasons" as the reason for the cancellation.
In a formal statement, the center said that there had been no signed contract between the center and the organizers.
"Javits management had tried to fulfill the request, but operational problems have made that impossible. The brand new North Pavilion, where the match might have taken place, is still under construction. That construction has been delayed because of legally required utilization by previously contracted shows and events," the statement said.
"The center, working under a very tight calendar, must use every available day to finish the pavilion in time for preliminary move-in activities, including the New York International Auto Show. The Center must also prepare the pavilion for additional major shows contracted for the spring and summer months."
But for the NYPD team staff, the statement was not entirely convincing.
"This is political," one staff member said. Organizers, meanwhile, still plan to go ahead with the fights but at another venue.
At a Monday press conference in Manhattan, a number of Irish-American politicians and activists promised to ensure the RUC would not fight in the city.
Claiming the NYPD had shown insensitivity to the Irish community, especially at a crucial time in the peace process, they said the Garda and New York police should review the RUC invitation.
"This is wrong for the NYPD to be participating in," said City Council member Walter McCaffrey.