Connor Daly and Reggie Hagland

ISLINGTON Boxing Club first opened its doors 50 years ago in Tiber Gardens under the name King’s Cross Amateur Boxing Club.

Half a decade and a move to Archway later, and the club is set for big changes as the building bought by its owners for £50 back in 1981 is finally branded past its sell by date.

Reggie Hagland, the club manager and third generation of Haglands involved in running it, is now planning to build a new, purpose-built boxing club on the same site.

“I think the new-build project is going to hap­pen,” said Mr Hagland, whose dad runs the club.

“If truth be told my biggest worry will be where do we go as a club whilst it’s going to happen, because the building is going to be built on the same grounds as we are at the moment. And my worry is we are a big club. We need to have a facility.”

His grandfather Ron was one of a group of men who bought the two-storey set of portable cabins in Hazellville Road, temporarily installed for the workers building the nearby Elthorne estate in the 1970s. Around 50 years later, it is still standing – but perhaps not for much longer.

“You can see it’s falling down around us, and we’re trying to mend it and patch it,” said Tina Spencer, club secretary.

“The winter is the worst time because you get the wind come, the rain come, you’re battling against everything,” added Mr Hagland.

The club’s home in Hazellville Road

Now is a good time to expand. With a rise in the popularity of boxing, which Mr Hagland puts down to the success of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and then the massive boost in funding for all sports in preparation for London 2012, Islington Boxing Club is on the up.

With a low point in members in 2009 – “that’s a story for another day” – the club is now seeing around 120 young people a day coming in for training, while it has just finished a “very long, successful season” with more than 400 contests and around 100 different boxers compete.

Their membership has also blossomed: five years ago, they had roughly 1,500 members. That has now grown to 2,500.

He explained how the appeal of boxing has seen it move beyond its traditional working class fanbase.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from,” he said. “You come in here and you box the same, there’s no special treatment for anyone. Everyone boxes in the same kit.”

Describing sport as something “magical”, he emphasises his point about how it “can change lives” by telling the story of a young boy with autism who had struggled for acceptance among his peers at school. He then became a boxing champion, and gained a newfound status.

“That particular bout that night changed that person’s life for the better,” he said.

“Sometimes you go, ‘I’m happy with what I’ve done now. We’ve done well there.’ And I’m proud of what was done there.”

Describing the club as “everything” to him, Mr Hagland admits he is something of a “boxing nerd” who rarely goes on holiday unless it is connected with the club and a tour of competition.

What makes the club so special, that boxers will come from far afield to train at IBC?

“It’s very family orientated.

“There’s no airs and graces, it doesn’t matter who you are,” said Ms Spencer.

Plans for the new club are currently at the pre-planning stage, but Mr Hagland hopes a new club could be built by 2026.