Drunkenness and alcohol blamed for crowd trouble at Kirkby boxing show
Organisers of a boxing show at Kirkby Leisure Centre have blamed alcohol and drunkenness for the crowd trouble that broke out at the event.
Mansfield Boxing Academy put on the show – which featured several junior bouts – which also incorporated the Regional Championships, at the venue on Saturday, February 18.
However, seven bouts never took place in the end, due to the outbreaks of crowd trouble, with organisers believing excessive drinking was the root cause of the problems.
The venue has since apologised for the issues.
Danny Phillips, from Mansfield Boxing Academy, said: “We’ve organised plenty of these shows in the past with no trouble at all.
"We were asked to host the Regional Championships and we already had 18 bouts as it was.
"A few officials then got a bit behind, so we ended up having to push a few things back although we did run to time for much of the night.
"We’ve done evening shows before, but on this occasion a few people turned up a bit merry beforehand and I think alcohol was the problem.
"We had one incident with a couple of girls falling out with each other over a boyfriend, somebody then had a go at someone who bit back and that exploded and then one guy got a bit upset because his lad lost and he decided to kick off about it and started threatening people.
Mansfield coach Rich Fox also got a bottle thrown at him, but was okay – and said he was disappointed that the actions of a small minority spoiled the night for many others.
He said: “As a club, we did everything we should have and ticked all the boxes and we did everything we could to make it as safe as possible.
“Some of our lads didn’t get to compete which was disappointing for them and what happened was all down to irresponsible drinking.
“Those that did kick off should be ashamed of themselves, they ruined an absolutely brilliant night.
"A lot of innocent people have missed out because of a few people who were nothing to do with us and I would ask people to drink responsibly when coming to events like this in the future.”
Lorenzo Clark, contract manager for Everyone Active, which runs the leisure centre on behalf of Ashfield Council, said: “There were some isolated incidents in the crowd during the boxing show.
“Security for the event was booked by the promoter and, unfortunately, a minority of attendees caused some issues.
“Glass collectors were utilised during the evening and colleagues had the right to refuse to serve individuals at the bar.
“We would like to apologise for the issues which occurred. We are discussing the matter internally and with partners to determine our approach going forward.”