Marrickville lords of the boxing ring by Lauren Murada with Don Brien - Inner West Courier - 3rd Frb 2011 THROUGHOUT the generations, Marrickvilleans have proven they know how to fight. Boxing has been a popular sport in the area since the 1930s and has produced some of the best fighters the country has seen. While most people know of the Marrickville Mauler Jeff Fenech, Don Brien, member of the NSW Veteran Boxers Association, said there had been more than 25 great fighters to emerge from the greater Marrickville area over the years. This content is protected Brien said the likes of Vic Patrick, Ern McQuillan Snr and Jnr, Jack Hassan, Ron Richards, Bernie Hall and Frank Farrington are often forgotten. There have been some great fighters from this district, he said. Can any other suburb match these boys? Patrick was widely regarded as the best Australian boxer never to win a world title and Australias greatest lightweight, holding the Australian lightweight title from 1941-48 and national welterweight title from 1942-46. Vic could beat everyone, Brien said. From the 30s onwards it was a popular sport among young boys, many training at Snowy Robbins gym in Erskineville. People didnt have very much money just after the depression, so if you were any good at fighting you could earn a few pennies in a fight, he said. Boxing was also a popular sport to watch. Many families went to the old Sydney Stadium in Rushcutters Bay on Monday night for fight nights. There were also fights at the Newtown Police Boys Youth Club, Leichhardt Stadium and Golden Glove matches in Glebe. Today, there is still a tradition of youth boxing in the Inner West, with Father Daves boxing program at Holy Trinity Church in Dulwich Hill and Paul Grech Boxing Gym in Marrickville. Stanmore boxer Garth Wood won the boxing reality TV show The Contender Australia and went on to knock out Anthony Mundine late last year.
bloody oath it was... i threw a sausage roll at an oncoming car full of islanders when i was full as a boot
Marrickville apparently has the highest rate of depression in Australia: "With income and employment levels around national averages, and an ethnically diverse population that is representative of modern Australia, it is also at the heart of the area identified in recent university surveys as the unhappiest in the country." [url]http://makingaustraliahappy.abc.net.au/news.php?newsid=1[/url] I'm sure that would be some sort of explanation for why so many fighetrs have come from that area - while some people give in to their depression, others go to the other extreme and fight against it and do whatever it takes to beat it.
i was drunk, covered in sauce and spouting abuse at anyone who would listen it was the worst rat coffin i ever tasted :twisted:
Isn't he going overboard in claiming Vic Patrick, Ron Richards And Jack Hassen as Marrickville locals. Vic Patrick was from the oyster leases on the Hawkesbury River, and Ron Richards and Jack Hassen were established boxers when they came down from Queensland. He may have well as gone on and claimed all the boxers that Ern McQuillan acquired from around Australia.
Certain parts of the world do indeed produce a greater figure of boxers , usually blokes trying to fight their way out of poverty as is the case here in South Wales .
