Wallington Rotary Club Boxing Evening

28^th November. The DG and I were invited to attend the 32^nd annual Boxing Gala Dinner, organised by the Rotary Club of Wallington at the Arnhem Gallery at Fairfield Halls in Croydon  This prestigious event is a major fundraiser, and has raised over £300,000 for charities over the years. Never having been to a boxing evening before, I was looking forward to it, although I didn’t really know what to expect. Would my food be spattered with sweat and blood? Would I be intimidated by an audience of large ex-boxers? Would the boxing finish after midnight, like on television? 

The DG had a question of her own, as she was unsure what she should wear to a boxing evening. Although I haven’t attended such an event before, I have seen boxing on TV. I told her that the only women I have seen at boxing matches were wearing hot pants and a skimpy top, and carrying boards with numbers on them. To say she was unimpressed with my suggestion would be an understatement. It was easier in my case, as I was pretty sure that it would be a black tie affair, so I could dress accordingly.

                                                             Fairfield Halls Croydon

We live in Shepperton, which is only about 20 miles from Croydon, but getting there in the Friday evening rush hour required careful planning. To be sure of getting there by 6.30p.m we thought it best to leave at 4.30. This allowed plenty of time, and if we were early we could always have a coffee somewhere. Our chosen route was M25 / M23 / A23 which was quite a long way around, but hopefully the traffic would keep moving. This isn’t always the case, because the DG got stuck in traffic on the M25 on her way to a meeting in Horsham a couple of months ago, and after 2 hours going nowhere she had to abandon the trip and return home. Tonight, the traffic was reasonable, and we arrived at Fairfield Halls at 6 p.m. The staff at the Halls couldn’t have been more helpful, and assisted us with parking right outside the venue.

                                                         The ring is ready

There was a lift to get the wheelchair up to floor level, then it was plain sailing to the Arnhem Gallery.  We were met on arrival by Vivienne Downe, who gave me a free pass for the car park. Being a little early, people were rushing around putting the finishing touches to the arrangements in the hall. I had my first look at the boxing ring, which looked impressive in the centre of the very well-lit room, surrounded by tables set for around 200 guests.  We met Club President Patrick Clarke, who I remember from the 5-club meeting in September. I must confess that when we first met, I misinterpreted his accent as being Italian. This evening I discovered that he is actually from Chile. He and his wife Susan proved to be charming hosts throughout the evening.

                                                     Ringside - The DG with Patrick Clarke and Susan (opposite)

Sitting on Table no. 1(naturally) with Patrick and Susan, we were literally ringside, about 5 feet from the action. Also on our table was Immediate Past President  Gerry Booth, a Rotarian known only by his initials, T J, and representatives from the two charities being supported that night, The Royal Marsden Hospital and The Alzheimers Society. The various questions in my mind were quickly answered, in that the boxing doesn’t commence until after we have eaten, the audience is mostly made up of local companies and organisations, who typically will book a table for their party, none of whom looked particularly intimidating. Patrick confirmed that it would be a late evening, but we should be out by midnight. Karin Tapson of the Alzheimers Society was sitting next to me and we had a long conversation about her charity, and the work it is doing to improve the quality of life for those suffering from dementia. Her husband Andrew, who was also present, is a banker and is actually CEO of the Bank Division that he works in. One thing I have found in my year as Consort to the DG is that I meet some seriously important people whilst carrying out my duties.

                                                          An impressive array of trophies being guarded by Patrick

Patrick and his team had arranged for us to have an early Christmas Dinner of paté followed by roast turkey, and Christmas pudding with a mince pie. I usually judge a roast dinner by the quality of the potatoes, and I can say that these were excellent, in fact I had some extras. During the course of our dinner, the format of the boxing was explained to us. The two teams contesting the evening were the London Amateur Boxing Association (South East Division) and the British Army, and there would be 9 bouts of three 2-minute rounds. One team would be in the red corner and one team in the blue corner. However the audience does not know this before battle commences, and we were invited to bet on the outcome of the first 6 fights before we knew which team was in which corner. There was a form, similar to the jackpot entry on our Race Night, where we indicated ‘red’ or ‘blue’ for the first 6 bouts, and the winner is the person with most correct. There was also to be a raffle with an eye-catching first prize of £1000.

                                                        Raffle prizes worth winning

After dinner it was time for the boxing to get under way, and firstly both teams lined up in the ring to be presented to the audience, with the fighters contesting the first bout staying in the ring. We learnt that London ABA (SE) would be in the red corner and the Army would be in the blue. I suspected the army may be stronger, and I had put mostly red winners on my betting slip, gambling that the army would be in the red corner. The first two contestants were juniors, and wore headguards. There were also 2 female bouts, and they also wore headguards.  All other boxers were without headguards, following a ruling last year that all amateur boxers at senior level would no longer wear them. Women, however, have to continue wearing them. Judges sat at three points around the ring, and scored each bout on a card, which was handed to the referee at the end. One judge sat so close to me I could look over his shoulder.

                                                                The opposing teams face each other across the ring

Being so close to the boxers, one gets a very different perspective on the fight. You can see the expressions on their faces, wince with them when they take a blow, and cheer on your own favourite. Some bouts were pretty one-sided, with one fighter clearly stronger than the other, so the result is never in doubt. Others, however, were much closer affairs, and only a split decision by the judges decided the outcome. Only on one occasion did I think that one boxer got the better of things, whilst the judges disagreed with me. One of the Army boxers was a bit of a showman. He obviously based his style on former World Champion Naseem Hamed, with whom there was also a physical similarity. He appeared to make little attempt to defend himself, relying instead on speed to evade his opponent’s punches.  In this he was quite successful, but he appeared to forget that he also was supposed to throw some punches. He lost the bout on a split decision.

                                                        A junior bout (with headguards)

                                                        A senior bout (no headguards)

It wasn’t just the boxers that we could see close up. I was only a few feet from the blue corner, could see the anxiety on the faces of the cornermen, and listen to their instructions to the boxers to ‘get yer ‘ands up’ or ‘keep jabbing’. They worked hard between the rounds to patch up their fighter, spraying him (or her) with water and offering words of encouragement. I also had a good view of the glamorous girl (called Lorna, I think) who walked round the ring after every round with a card indicating the number of the next round, dressed a little incongruously in skimpy shorts and a Wallington Rotary Club T shirt.

                                                         And the winner is...

                                                         Talking tactics in the blue corner

                                                          Lorna goes to work

Every bout had a sponsor, whereby a table would club together to find enough to sponsor a fight. Our table sponsored the first bout, at a cost of, I think £30. The DG got to present the trophy to one of the female winners, and Karin Tapson presented a trophy to one of the male boxers. I seemed to get overlooked in the presentation of trophies, but I guessed that I was being saved for the prestigious heavyweight bout. Unfortunately there wasn’t a heavyweight bout that evening.

                                                                           The DG awards trophy to winning girl

Midway through the evening the raffle and auction took place, organised by John Edwards, who seemed to be the lead organiser of the whole event, working tirelessly all evening to ensure everything went to plan. No doubt even more hard work was required behind the scenes. The £1,000 raffle first prize was won by an extraordinarily generous man who promptly presented the whole lot to the Alzheimers Society. Karin said that she knew him, and he had already been very generous to the charity. At the auction, a pair of boxing gloves autographed by  former World Champion boxer Charlie Magri, went for £130 and a golf day at a local golf course, coupled with a hamper presented by a member of the audience, went for, I think, £240. Having been unsuccessful in the raffle, I was no more fortunate in my gamble on the first 6 bouts. The London ABA won more bouts, and I actually got 4 out of the 6 correct, and thought I may be in with a chance. However, three people actually got all six correct, and shared the prize between them.

                                                             The corner men go to work

It was just before midnight that we left the Fairfield Halls. It had been a super evening of entertainment, spent in great company, and  clearly raised a serious amount for its charities. We are both very grateful to wallington Rotary Club for their hospitality. The journey home, along quiet roads, was much quicker.