Father Dave's Fight Club 1991 to 2021

After 31 years of service to the community, Father Dave’s Boxing Club was evicted by the Anglican Church in Dulwich Hill. The church, where the ‘Fighting Father’ had been Parish Priest for 30 years, asked him to remove all equipment belonging to the club and to vacate the premises by December 31st, 2021.

Father Dave's Boxing Club attracted worldwide attention for its outreach services in the inner West of Sydney. Father Dave was twice awarded Marrickville’s Citizen of the Year award, and was three times nominated for Australian of the Year, for his work with young people at risk. “We served our young people for more than three decades, and this was a significant blow – not only to me but to the whole community,” Father Dave said.

Father Dave established the flight club in 1991 along with a drop-in centre for young people addicted to heroin, who were supported to beat their habit through boxing. Father Dave went on to become a professional fighter to fund the work. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight club was working with a large number of young people, taking referrals from government agencies and welfare organisations, and catering to local kids from the inner West. It ran weekend fitness camps in the bush and worldwide mission trips.

Father Dave will try ton continue the work. The club is currently training out of The Fight Lab in Tempe.

http://www.fatherdave.org
http://www.fighting-fathers.com