The British Boxing Board of Control has reacted to the serious issues surrounding the sport and mental health.
The BBBoC has formed a partnership with Sporting Chance, the organization founded by former Arsenal FC and England defender Tony Adams that was founded some 30 years ago to provide therapy services to sports people and support staff in sport.
The partnership aims to safeguard the well-being of current and retired professional boxers and license holders.
“It’s something I’ve thought about for quite a long time,” said BBBoC supervisor Dennis Gilmartin. “I believe the issues with boxers and people around boxing – not just boxers, but managers, coaches, trainers – mental health, people taking their own lives or attempting to, I think it’s disproportionate to any other sport.
“I’m 48. I’ve been in the game for my whole life, for 30 years. When you think of the Smith brothers [Billy and Earnie, who took their own lives], and you think of Darren Sutherland and [matchmaker] Dean Powell, and it seems like it's one after the other after the other.”
Although boxing’s numbers are nowhere near those in soccer and rugby, and the BBBoC can’t be compared to the Football Association or the Rugby Football Union, Gilmartin said he has been concerned by how many of those in the sport are struggling.
“It was the growing openness about it in recent years across all sports – well, across the world actually, but across all sports – that people were speaking much more openly about it, much more candidly about it,” Gilmartin said.
“That was a great thing. I just thought there must be something else we can do, that the Board can provide.”
The link-up will allow those in boxing to use help from Sporting Chance without having to pay, and without having to worry about any issues they face being made public. Everything will be kept in confidence.
So any fighter fearing they might lose their license, for example, need not worry. Anything they share will be confidential.
“The anonymity of it was also a priority,” Gilmartin added.
“That’s where Sporting Chance really went to instead of just finding a service that could provide counseling or support. It was sports specific, and not just for the athletes. It’s primarily for the athletes, and I’m sure they'll be the biggest uptaker of it, but [it’s also] for people who work in and around it.
“Gus Robinson [Hartlepool manager and promoter] wasn’t a boxer when he took his life, and maybe it wasn’t boxing that contributed to it – maybe it was other things. But it’s people that work in and around it. It’s incredibly stressful for promoters. It’s incredibly stressful for managers, for matchmakers. It’s incredibly stressful for matchmakers, actually.
“But this would be something that would protect their anonymity.”
It was Gilmartin who reached out to Colin Bland, the CEO of Sporting Chance, to set the wheels in motion. They met at Tower Bridge in London for preliminary discussions, and the partnership has since been formalized.
“Any current license holder, if they feel the need to talk to someone or reach out to someone, is eligible to call a help line with Sporting Chance, which is 24 hours a day, which is 365 days a year, which will be answered by someone, which is a care worker specialized in dealing with people with a sporting background and sporting needs. It comes at no cost to the license holder. It is completely anonymous. The Board of Control don’t even know who's calling. Their concerns are completely anonymous. And the nature of their call, it remains confidential. And that service remains in place for a year after you become a license holder.
“Some boxers retire on their own terms. The majority don’t. As you know, the majority, they don’t retire – they get retired. And that’s harder to take than their own retirement, whether that’s medical or whatever it might be. These services remain available even after you’re a license holder for that first year to try and get you up and running, that hardest year of adjusting to life after boxing or outside of the ring.”
Gilmartin knows the BBBoC-Sporting Chance relationship will likely change and adapt, but he is confident it will provide a leap forward in what is currently being offered.
It also won’t affect the BBBoC’s relationship with others seeking to help those in life after boxing, like the Ringside Charitable Trust, to which the Board regularly donates.
Sporting Chance also helps those battling addictions and issues with substances, gambling and alcohol.
The partnership has ultimately been signed off by British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Robert Smith, for which Gilmartin is clearly grateful.
Sporting Chance’s Bland said the organization is delighted to have linked up with the BBBoC.
“Our philosophy is that if something is important enough to you to want to change it, it’s important to us,” Bland said. “Our work and conversations with the Board lead me to believe that we are aligned, and their want to support fighters is clear. I would like to thank them for their considered approach to this partnership and assure boxing that we are here to help.”
Added Adams: “When I started Sporting Chance 25 years ago, I knew how difficult it was for a football player to find a safe place to talk about their emotions and thoughts that troubled them. I was one of them. What has become clear to me over the years is that this is true for others who compete in the different arenas across all professional and elite sport. It is always different, but the same. The mission today is that when any sportsman or woman has the courage to reach out for support, Sporting Chance will be there. That’s what I wanted, and that is exactly what has been built. Well done to the British Boxing Board of Control for establishing this partnership.”
All British Boxing Board of Control license holders will have access to a Sporting Chance helpline at +447780 008877.
