Sport for Business

Boxing Ireland - Built Different, Built for the Future

• Rob Hartnett, Gary Stewart, Paddy Murphy • Episode 151

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Let us know what’s on your mind

Pride isn’t a tagline, it’s a lived routine: doors unlocked before dawn, cold gyms warming up with hard work, and coaches giving kids a shot at something bigger. We sat down in the National Stadium with Boxing Ireland CEO Gary Stewart and Branding Sport’s Paddy Murphy to share how a 115-year-old identity evolved into a clear, modern banner that speaks to clubs, parents, and the 12-year-old lacing gloves for the first time.

And tune in for a very special piece of content to launch the new identity...


If the story resonates, follow the show, share it with someone at your club, and leave a review with your favourite line from the manifesto. Your feedback helps more people find Boxing Ireland’s new voice.



Find out more about what we do day in day out at Sportforbusiness.com

We publish a daily news bulletin and host regular live events on a wide range of sporting subjects.

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from, and look forward to more upcoming chats on leadership and the business of sport.

Our upcoming live events, including our League of Ireland Breakfast at Grant Thornton on February 4th, as well as plenty more, are live on the Sport for Business website, and we'd love to have you join us.





SPEAKER_01:

Screen here and putting our little nation on the map, but it's just you know this is a stuff of dreams.

SPEAKER_05:

Boxing in Ireland woke up this morning to a new look and a new name, with the Irish Athletic Boxing Association officially becoming Boxing Ireland, marking a significant moment in the sport's 115-year history. Welcome to the Sport for Business Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Hartnett, and this morning to mark this significant moment in the history of Irish Boxing, uh, Boxing Ireland, built different as it is now known, we were joined by the CEO of Boxing Ireland, Gary Stewart, and by the man charged with creating this new design, this new look, this new look feel for the sport, Patty Murphy, the MD and founder of Branding Sport. So let's get into it and stay with us because we've got a very special insert in today's podcast, uh, which comes in uh just after 20 minutes into this 30-minute conversation, a little bit longer than our normal Sport for Business Daily podcast, but I think you'll find that it is well worthwhile investing the time. So we're here in the heart of Irish Boxing, really, the National Stadium. It's on Dublin South Circular Road. It is the home of the elite national championships, which took place over the course of two weekends in January. And I'm delighted to be joined by Gary Stewart, the CEO of what was once the IABA, but is now, as of this morning, Boxing Ireland, built different. And with Paddy Murphy of Branding Sport, who is the person who has been charged with creating this new identity, this new look, this new feel to what is a very traditional and very historic sport within Ireland. So you're both very welcome onto the Sport for Business podcast. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to grill you about a process which I'm pretty sure has taken up much of your waking and probably half of your sleeping hours over the last few months.

SPEAKER_00:

I'd say that's I'd say that's fair, Rob, to be honest. Um a few sleepless nights, maybe in the early days, Paddy. I don't I don't know about you. Um but really now, just just delighted to see it all come to fruition and see what see what Paddy and Brandon Sport have produced for Boxing Island. I think it's it's really is a top-class piece of work and something that's very exciting for us for the future. Okay.

SPEAKER_06:

I thought it all went fairly swimmingly, Gary. I didn't realise there were sleepless nights. I thought we were all good.

SPEAKER_05:

A man who has been around this block. Well, not quite this block or around this ring. Gary, you came into the organisation as the CEO. You're you're in it uh less than a year, only a few, only a few months. But this looks and feels as though it was important to actually, in a sense, recreate how boxing sees itself within Ireland. Is that overstating it?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I think that I think that's that's right, Robert. What was what became apparent to me very quickly early on in my tenure was the real sense of pride that people have for boxing, um, pride that they have in their community, um, you know, pride that the impact that boxing clubs have, you know, every day of the week. Um, pride in the success that we we achieve within the ring. Um and there was a real sense that you know we needed to be a bit more, we needed to be unequivocal about that. We needed to do something that was clearly proud of proud of us and proud of our sport and what we stand for. So um it became apparent to me quite early on that doing this now, um, demonstrating that change, such a visible change. I mean, we've had the the existing provincial crest for I think 92 years or something like that. So it's um, you know, a fair bit of responsibility. Um, but it was a change that would would would really reinvigorate the organization um and and give us a strong platform for the future. Okay.

SPEAKER_05:

Paddy, you've come into this with uh you know, with a with a belt and braces CV in relation to sport. So a lot of credibility in there that you you know that you can take the heart of a different sport and actually sort of make it look good in a variety of different forms, all the way from you know the Olympic Federation through to you know through to cycling to volleyball to to to lots of different individual sports. Was it daunting for you looking at boxing? You're not a boxer, so you're an outsider in that sense, but within sport, we're all of us outsiders if we haven't competed at the very highest level. But how challenging was that to walk into the room as a marketing person to bring all of the baggage and the sort of the preconceptions that that might come with that and say, I understand you, I want to hear from you, I want you to tell me how you see yourselves and let me reflect that back visually.

SPEAKER_06:

Everyone loves a marketing person, eh? Um was it daunting? Um a little bit, Rob. I I guess I've walked into these rooms before, and whether it was the GEA or cycling or traveling or golf, they're maybe sports I was more familiar with. I was more familiar with the with the community, more familiar with with how they were run. Um so you're right, I'm not a boxer. I don't think I ever will be a boxer. Um so it was uh listen, at times it was a little bit daunting. Um having said that, um you know, for the first couple of months of this project, I was going into rooms and we were going into rooms to listen to people. Um because like like with any of these projects, you're trying to extract the ideas from the people. And and not necessarily for Gary as CEO or not from staff members, but you're trying to extract the ideas from the people on the ground, you know, from the people who are boxing in clubs, from the coaches, from the volunteers on the board. Um so it is very much a listening remit. Um so you know, and and I think the people who we spoke to over the course of this were very giving of their time. Uh they were very, very forthright in their opinions and what about what should be done and what shouldn't be done. Um so, like Gary said, there were a couple of sleepless nights. How the hell are we going to square this circle? Um, but ultimately I think they what everyone told us was was very, very consistent, um, which meant we had a fairly clear kind of remit and brief when it came to putting the ideas down on paper and creating the visuals um uh for for boxing.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, that's interesting what you say about getting that, you know, getting those voices, because as would anything in terms of the design of something that we live, breathe, love, everybody is going to have an opinion. Most people will express that opinion loudly and at times violently after they've seen what it was. How did you go about, Gary, creating a a cohort of people from within the sport that would represent the sport that would be willing to actually put themselves forward to create an opinion before they had seen what this was going to look like?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I think Patty alluded to that, like the work that was done in terms of listening.

SPEAKER_05:

Um and but how did you bring those listeners? How did you create a group that were going to represent everybody that's listening?

SPEAKER_06:

I I'll jump in there, Gary, if you don't mind. So uh I I suppose the first thing when we do these projects is is the first thing is to create a project group, you know, a group of people in the organization who can who can help you bring the project through the organization. So we we had a small group, five or six people. Uh Gary was on that group, so there were staff, there were board members, and there were boxers. Um and like it wasn't like they were their purpose, their role was to, like I said, bring this through the organization. We didn't actually look to them for the role, for the ideas. Um, but what those guys did what that project group did was kind of helped us determine who we should be speaking to. So we had we had a number of cohorts who we approached in different ways. We had the wider boxing family uh and boxing community, which we went to with online surveys, very simply, just to get an initial sense of of the kind of of how they think about boxing, what the associations they have with boxing, how they wanted to feel. Um, and what we wanted to do then was distill those ideas. So from there we asked, um, you know, we we we went to that same community and we asked if people would be happy to invest a little bit of time in working on this project with us. So we had a group of about 20 people who came back to us from all over the country, all walks of life, all levels of involvement with boxing, who said, I'll do a Zoom call with you, I'll meet with you, I'll take part in a focus group, I'll answer specific questions. So we had that group of 20 people representing all sorts, who we could put ideas through and we could and and we could question on how things should look and how things should feel and what they want within within their kind of role in boxing. Beyond that, we had access to national uh the national teams out in the sports camp, out in the Institute of Sport. Um and again, we were able to go to them and spend you know, we with specific questions and kind of interviews with those guys. So all the ideas the ideas kind of started at the grassroots, but the project group led by Gary, you know, created cohorts within boxing who we could kind of bring those ideas through and validate with, and validate those ideas with. Um which was very important because when we came back to the project group um, you know, with our recommendations, uh those recommendations we we were fairly confident they were right because they'd gone through three or four levels of of kind of verification.

SPEAKER_05:

What was what was it like from your point of view? So you're you're a new boy behind the desk as well, as the CEO coming in. And it is a sport which kind of lives on its history and its tradition. I think those of us who love boxing love it for a variety of reasons, but many of them are rooted in in the history of the great fighters, the you know, the the profession again, the Muhammad Ali's, the George Foremans, all of that sort of side of things, you know, Hitman Hearns, Marvin Hagler, depends on what age you are, you will always have something. But there was something very visceral and very heartfelt about boxing, which actually comes into it. How how did you find it reaching out to your sport when you're only in it for a short space of time, and say, I want to take all of that and I want to bring it into something which is particularly Irish? Like what were the what were the words that kept on coming back to you that helped to frame what this looks like?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I I think first of all, what you described there, that the the wholesomeness, I suppose, and the earthy values of boxing is what attracted me to the role in the first place, right? Um as a sport I've been wanting to work in for a couple of years because I see the impact that it has and what it does. So um, you know, when when we go out and we we talk to people, they talk so passionately about the impact that they have, the work that they do, the the values that they build in young people, the resilience that they're teaching children, the determination, showing kids and demonstrating to kids actually what hard work really means. You know, real values and foundational skills that um that that are instilled in young people and will will set them up for life. So when we're talking to the community, when I've gone out and met the community, those are the things that are coming back more often than not. Like we've used this phrase, Ireland's most successful Olympic sport, right? And we've said that with a lot of pride the last few years, and rightly so, because we are. Um but when I get out into the community, 99% of the people, the reason they open up a lock up or a shed or an industrial unit at 6am, freezing cold winter, isn't necessarily to win a gold medal for Ireland. It's because they want to give the kid a chance. They want to help kids that need a chance, maybe more than any other kid does, you know. They want young people to be given the opportunities and support that that they were given. Um so when we've gone out and we've we've got that feedback, that's the type of language, that community spirit. That's that's what's coming back to us. Um very proud of what the team have produced because I think it really I think it really resonates with with those values.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. And it's a it's a tricky, it's a tricky act to pull off because you're looking, you're looking at creating something which is going to speak with power and resonance to those within the sport who live and breathe it every day, but which is also going to act as a as a cipher, as a as a as a quick once-over representation of that sport for a general public who are sated at times by rugby on one channel and football on another channel and horse racing on another, and Gaelic football and hurling and volleyball and boxing. It is a multi-flavored, multicolored universe of sport. You needed to create something that would speak to both of those audiences who are at very different points in terms of the need to do that. Is that where the magic happens in design?

SPEAKER_06:

So like I think the big thing this project had going for it was um the guys at boxing and the pro the project group and the people we spoke to were very clear about who the audience was. And you spoke about a multitude of audiences there. But uh like from the start, we were very clear about this work should go some way towards inspiring a young kid who's boxing. You know, if they're all involved in it, they should want to wear this logo on their hoodie. You know, they should want to engage with the social media content we create. So like that was one of the guiding principles as to what we create. Um so uh like and and listen, that informs a different thing. That informs the colours that you use, that informs the level of simplicity, etc. Um, but like but that was that was a really important important aspect of this project was real being really clear about who the hell are we talking to. And we're talking to 10, 12, 13, 14, 15-year-old boys and girls who are just getting into this thing. Uh and we wanted it to to kind of speak to them. Like, I don't think, all due respect, I don't think Kelly Harrington cares what this logo looks like or what this brand looks like. You know, she's she's she's lived her boxing life and she's training for them national championships and for the Olympics and whatever it is. Um so I don't think this will change much for her. You know, I don't think it will change much for someone who serves on the board, but like if it can contribute to a kid getting excited, getting excited about boxing, then that's that would be a success.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. And maybe you're right. Maybe it doesn't, maybe it doesn't matter in the moment where you are now because when you're in the reads and you're in the rushes of of being involved in the sport, but but still at the end of the day, you want to be proud of the thing that you've devoted your time to.

SPEAKER_06:

Definitely. And and I I think you asked Gary this question a little earlier, but like pride was just a word on repeat, um you know, which came from everybody through the course of this project. You know, whether it was whether it was um you know, Olympic boxers who we spoke to, like Kelly or like Grogny, or like Grogan Walsh, um, or whether it was someone who runs a small club down the country, you know, they're very proud of the work they do on the ground. They're very proud of the difference they make in in kids' lives. So like pride was the word. You know, there were other words, like strength was a word. These guys have to they literally wear this crest going into battle, and they said that to us in in many different forms. So so it needed to feel kind of strong, you know. Um the third word, there's probably two other words. Um Irishness was a big one, you know. This is it, it's it's you know, they boxed to represent Ireland on an international stage, so it's got to feel really bloody Irish. Um and the last kind of really key thing which was said on repeat was it was about history and and kind of honouring the history and and recognizing the history. Um, like we had uh Gary, can I have I got permission to talk about the club forum? Go for it. And feel free to jump in if you like. But in the middle of this process, you know, we went to a Boxing Iron Club forum. Maybe 30, 40, 40 people from around the country came and they they came on the day to learn about grants and about competitions and and and other various workings of boxing. But we also took the opportunity to present uh the project, the rebrand project to them. Um and in the course of that presentation, uh we we got probably we got probably the best piece of feedback we got throughout the whole project, which was from the front row of the club forum, a guy looked me in the eye and said, Don't change that fucking logo. Uh which was which is which is not a great thing to hear when you've been hired to change the logo.

SPEAKER_00:

That was the sleepless night I mentioned earlier as well.

SPEAKER_06:

Uh so now, you know, listen, that was a bit of a shock to the system.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_06:

Um, but I guess like we reflected on that a lot and and I and pointed to a few things. A, there's like deep, deep pride and connection to the old provincial logo and how that looks and feels. So, you know, that led to a discussion of what's the minimal intervention we could do here, you know, how how could we take the old logo and just modernize it a little bit? Or we certainly need to find some some kind of consistencies between old and new, you know, so that informed what we did. Um and then the other thing, it got us question, sort of it made us question why haven't we doing this? You know, um, and we did have a number of conversations regrouping on why are we doing this? And and you know, again, and then that stimulated that thing I just spoke about, which is we're actually doing this to to to encourage and motivate and excite young people about boxing. Yeah, and like listen, the brand and the brand designer is a small part of that, but it's something we can control, it's something we can do. So that that's the thing we wanted to uh that's the thing we wanted to push on with. Okay, and ultimately, don't change that fucking logo. I would suggest now is the key piece of feedback uh that we got. In the process. So thank you to that man.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you to that man, yeah. And look, Robert is a great it's like I bumped into that man on Friday evening. I won't I won't share his name. Um and he asked how the project was going in. I give him a sneak preview.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh he hates it. No, he doesn't either. He's he was like, he thinks it's amazing, he was fantastic, it's a great job. That really that really sums up what what boxing is and what boxing means, and and the manifesto piece as well. Really kind of uh really resonated with him.

SPEAKER_05:

Um I was going to ask the question as to whether he's actually seen it yet, but you've answered.

SPEAKER_00:

I gave a sneak preview on Friday night, led the semi-finals with the elites, yeah, last week. And uh it was it was great feedback. And look, listen, the the the big launch obviously this morning, a couple of people have had a sneaky preview, um, and the the feedback has been universally um fantastic. Great.

SPEAKER_05:

You mentioned briefly there the manifesto, and many times in marketing, all of the work that goes into it gets encapsulated in what we now refer to as a piece of content or a single visual or a single piece of audio, something that people latch on to and that just makes the whole thing come to life. And you've done that with the manifesto. Before we talk about that, I just want to play it out. So this is an audio podcast. You can see the video on sportforbusiness.com and you can see the visuals of what this great new brand identity looks like. But just bear with us a moment and just close your eyes, unless you're driving, and listen to what the manifesto sounds like in this one piece of content.

SPEAKER_03:

You wouldn't like it. The early morning runs, they're not for everyone. The smell in the gym, the sweat in the clothes, the work, hard work, not for everyone. Or maybe you're one of us, sort of something, fighting for something. Your family, your town, your club, yourself, a boxer, deep down, fighting to make a difference, fighting to give someone a chance. A chance to be the best they can be. A chance to go all the way. Boxers are built there. Jump-ins are built there. Character is built there. Boxing Ireland built different.

SPEAKER_05:

So the voice is very familiar. The messaging is very powerful. The combination of those two makes this a kick-ass piece of content, as we said. This is what all of the work comes down to in many ways. Tell me a little bit about how you got Liam Neeson to record the Boxing Island Manifesto. It's iconic, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

It really is. I guess uh Paddy um obviously scripted the manifesto originally. We had a bit of back and forth. We tweet we tweaked a few things, but it was you know what he produced was pretty much 99.9% of what we went with. And when I read it for the first time, um and I shared it with a couple of other people, it was who are gonna get to narrate this? And literally everybody was you need to get Liam Neeson to do that. Liam Neeson is perfect for that gig. Um so it's like right, okay, well let's let's shoot for the stars and see what happens. Um now what was really handy, and this is a little known fact that Liam Neeson was the Ulster youth boxing champion. I think in 1968, I believe. Um he fought here in the National Stadium twice. Uh lost both times, unfortunately. Ironically, once against the Michael Collins, believe it or not. Okay. Um so boxing's in Liam's blood. So we we um managed to get hold of a uh a contact contact email address for his agent, and then we we wrote him a nice letter and really um just just asking him to do it for our community, and how happy how a community would be, that one of their own, you know, who's gone on to achieve such wonderful global success would would would help us out a little bit. Um and he came back and uh the the manifesto piece really resonated with him. He he felt it really summed up what what boxing was, and he'd only only be delighted to help us. Wow.

SPEAKER_05:

It's true, isn't it, that you'll never get a yes answer if you never ask the question, but you actually ask the question.

SPEAKER_00:

We asked the question, uh and you know what, Rob, there's one thing I've learned in life people typically are sound. You know, people are typically are sound. Um and Lame Neeson is sound, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_05:

He is sound, and he also sounds pretty special. If you're the you're the writer of those words, and there is a real craft in that, and like they do resonate enormously, and they're a huge part of everything that goes around. Like, you know, you're designing a new logo, but what is that? A new logo is just a colour palette and a typeface and all of the rest of it. It's so much more than that, it is rooted in those words. What was it like for you as the as the writer to actually hear Liam Neeson recording that?

SPEAKER_06:

Uh it was a good buzz, Rob. It was a good buzz. Um we uh he he did need a little bit of direction. Uh so I I can say that I've directed Liam Neeson now, which is which is uh a number of my friends, all of my friends heard about at some stage over the last couple of months. Um so really good buzz. Um listen, the manifesto, the manifesto itself, like the built-different idea. That kind of wrote itself, Rob. You know, like like we've hundreds of pages of survey responses and we've hundreds of pages of of interview uh transcripts from the last couple of months with coaches and kids and boxers and like the manifesto's in there. It's it's it's um you know it's there. Um so so it wasn't a particularly difficult thing to write because because there's there's there's so much rich stuff there. Um so writing wasn't a writing it wasn't a huge challenge. Um uh hearing Lean Leeson deliver it was yeah, was a buzz. Was a buzz. And fair juice to Gary for for getting in there, getting him, you know, because I know he'll say he called him up when he got him to do it, but there was a bit more to it. Um so it was it was it was quite the coup.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay. Um and I can only imagine when you went back into the history books and saw that Michael Collins was one of the guys that had beaten him uh well, he got his revenge. Not his revenge, but he certainly got plenty out of Michael Collins anyway, later on in his second career outside of the outside of the ring. Um we're gonna play it back out one more time to you know to finish off this particular podcast. Um Gary, you're going to be on stage with me next week. We do this annual event, the Sporting Year Ahead, looking at sport in all of its glory. We've got Jarlith Burns, the president of the GAA, we've got we've got peace on the Winter Olympics, about the Kerry Dublin rivalry, about the Special Olympics uh coming forward, lots of good things on. Um so we're gonna talk about this, we're gonna talk about boxing as well. Um Paddy, you're going to be in the audience. I'll I'll give you a credit as a director if that's you know what floats your your boat uh in in particular in relation to that show. But this has uh this has been instructive. It's been a great way to actually understand how the different layers of work need to go in in order to create something which at the surface level appears quite simple. And to those who don't know anything about design or anything like that, they kind of think, yeah, that really works. I don't know why it works, but it just works for me. And this is how all of those layers get built on top of each other. So um so thank you to to you, Paddy Murphy, uh Branding Sport, for sharing it. I look forward to seeing you next. You do a funky little quarterly newsletter as well that comes out on email. I'm sorry. Any day now. Couple of stories coming out on it. Um and to Gary, uh, what a great start to uh to your life as a CEO of Boxing Ireland, because that's what you are now. And um yeah, thanks very much for taking the time to be with us here today. And just one last time, let's throw it over to Leoneson to bring us home.

SPEAKER_03:

You wouldn't like it. The early morning runs, they're not for everyone. The smell in the gym, the sweat in the clothes, the work, hard work, not for everyone. Or maybe you're one of us, part of something, fighting for something, your family, your town, your club, yourself, a boxer deep down, fighting to make a difference, fighting to give someone a chance, a chance to be the best they can do. A chance to do a club on the corner. Boxers are built there. Jump-ins are built there. Character is built there. Boxing Ireland built different.

SPEAKER_05:

Gary Stewart will be joining us on stage at the Sporting Year Ahead in partnership with Taneo, taking place in the Sugar Club on the morning of Wednesday, January the 21st. All the tickets are sold out for this event now. But if you want to follow sportforbusiness.com, you will find out highlights of us appearing afterwards. And if you want to join us, our next event after this is a special League of Ireland Business Breakfast we're doing in partnership with Grant Thornton. It's taking place at their offices overlooking the River Liffey uh between 8 o'clock and 9.30 on the morning of Wednesday, the 4th of February, just 48 hours before the start of the 2026 League of Ireland season. Plenty more in the pipeline coming up in terms of events, and every day we are publishing the news that is very much at the heart and the centre of the commercial world of Irish sport. I've been your host, Rob Hartness. Thank you very much for taking the time to be with us today and have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_01:

Putting our little nation on the map, it's just, you know, this is the stuff of dreams.

SPEAKER_04:

It's splitting, it's splitting, children sextant time, and I'm gonna turn pressing.

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Rob Hartnett

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