Papers of England Boxing (formerly Amateur Boxing Association of England)

The Amateur Boxing Association collection boasts 22 bound ABA minute books that date back to the founding of the association in 1880 providing a rich insight into the amateur sport. There are also papers relating to other meetings and commissions including selection committee minutes, adjudication minutes, the Women's Commission and the Youth Commission. There are papers and correspondence relating to the organisation and administration of tournaments both domestic and overseas, liaison with regional associations, the training of coaches, awareness programmes and membership. There are also annual reports concerning the ABA, Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.

The collection contains a large amount of programmes dating from 1880 to the present for a variety of matches and tournaments across Britain and globally. The club programmes range from local establishments, school boy clubs, and public services, such as the Police and the Armed Forces. There is also a valuable assortment of trophies, including the Silver goblet trophy for the Clapton Boxing Club ABC (1882 Heavyweight), a founding club of the ABA. The "open" competition, in its day, was a very high profile event. There are a further 18 boxes/tubs of trophies and plaques ranging from 1882 to the present.

Along with the trophies there are also a variety of medals, many of which are participation and commemorative medals from Olympic and Commonwealth Games. The collection contains Jewels for ABA council members (including centenary year), EABA, IABA, and Jewels from competitions (including 1927 competitor silver medal jewel awarded to Dirk Walter Bentick 1927). Further artefacts include plates, belts, pennants, signed boxing gloves and commemorative ephemera for Commonwealth and Olympic Games; this includes toys, tracksuits, caps, lanyards and programmes.

The Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABA) was founded in 1880 as the governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England.

In 2013 the organisation changed its name to England Boxing. It is responsible for the governance, development, promotion and administration of Olympic-style boxing; and represents England as a member of the International Boxing Association.

There are separate organisations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The collection is open and available for researchers to use. However, as it is a large collection and as yet uncatalogued, we ask researchers to make an appointment so that we can find and prepare materials.

Donated to DMU Special Collections by England Boxing, June 2016.

Copying may be undertaken for private research purposes only, within copyright regulations and dependent on the condition of the material. Please note that there is a large amount of third-part copyright material in this collection.