Entertainment

In Sunshine or in Shadow shines a light on Holy Family gym during the Troubles

Belfast and its boxers have always held a fascination for award-winning author Donald McRae. Here, the South African-born writer, who regards Northern Ireland as his second home, tells Gail Bell why he felt compelled to document the legacy of Gerry Storey and his Holy Family gym in new book, In Sunshine or in Shadow

Donald McRae pictured in the Holy Family gym in north Belfast
Donald McRae pictured in the Holy Family gym in north Belfast Donald McRae pictured in the Holy Family gym in north Belfast

IN CERTAIN parts of Belfast, the name 'Gerry Storey' is imbued with an almost holy reverence. Certainly, his famous Holy Family gym in the north of the city is akin to something sacred, a living, thriving shrine to boxing and still punching above its weight today.

Now the man who, in the midst of bombs and bullets of 1970s Belfast helped propel world champion Barry McGuigan, Olympic medallist (and Irish News photographer) Hugh Russell, Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Davy Larmour, and European lightweight champion Charlie Nash to victory, is having a starring role himself – in a new book charting his own remarkable story.

In Sunshine or in Shadow: How Boxing Brought Hope in the Troubles is published today and its author, multi-award-winning writer Donald McRae – who also happens to be a huge boxing fan – will be a guest speaker at the ninth Belfast Book Festival which launches next Friday.

McRae will be speaking about the book, a proverbial 'labour of love' which took several years of research and multiple interviews in Belfast before completion, at a special event in Waterstones on Saturday, June 15.

During a meet-up ahead of his festival date, it was clear the South African-born writer has more than a soft spot for Belfast and its boxing greats.

"This book, without getting sentimental, is about the healing power of boxing at a time of utter darkness and desolation," he says. "Boxing was like a beacon of hope and Gerry Storey and his Holy Family gym in the Catholic New Lodge, had a massive impact, not just on the boxers he trained, but on Northern Ireland society as a whole."

Gerry Storey at Holy family Boxing Club with young boxers including Paddy Barnes and Michaela Walsh. Picture by Hugh Russell
Gerry Storey at Holy family Boxing Club with young boxers including Paddy Barnes and Michaela Walsh. Picture by Hugh Russell Gerry Storey at Holy family Boxing Club with young boxers including Paddy Barnes and Michaela Walsh. Picture by Hugh Russell

The writer – two-times winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and three-times winner of the Sports Feature Writer of the Year for his work in the Guardian newspaper – lived in South Africa under the Apartheid regime during his childhood and has felt a special connection to Northern Ireland, his "second home", ever since witnessing traumatic news reports on TV screens in his own troubled country.

"I left South Africa in 1984 for political reasons and I guess I've always been fascinated by Northern Ireland because, under Apartheid, the government tightly controlled what we saw and what we heard," he says. "We would hear nothing about Nelson Mandela being in jail – we knew of him, but didn't know anything about him, as a man – but we heard so much about what was happening in Northern Ireland.

"When I was a little boy, my teachers were so racist, but they loved Muhammad Ali and that made me think of the sheer power of boxing. It is such a violent activity, really, going under the banner of sport, so for it to become a beacon of peace is just incredible.

"What I have been so struck by is the example given by the boxers themselves. Amid the madness, Catholic and Protestant boxers respected each other and showed an amazing humanity. They didn't judge people on which part of Belfast they lived in or on their political allegiance or faith; they just lived for boxing.

"The fighters would be ducking gun play on their way to the gym; they would be stopped and their van would be searched on their way there – but once they entered through the Holy Family door, it was like an oasis; it felt like home."

Such paradoxes are affectionately illustrated throughout In Sunshine or in Shadow, none more poignantly than in the account McRae enthusiastically gives of Gerry being handed the equivalent of a "diplomatic pass" by paramilitary leaders from both sides of the conflict.

"One of the key things which really inspired me to write the book was hearing that, just after the hunger strikes in 1981, Gerry went into the Maze prison to teach boxing to both republican and loyalist prisoners – on different nights," he says. "I thought, 'Wow, this man...' and then I met him and he is such a lovely, modest, gentle, self-effacing person who always wanted to downplay his role.

In Sunshine or in Shadow by Donald McRae
In Sunshine or in Shadow by Donald McRae In Sunshine or in Shadow by Donald McRae

"We recently worked out that I had interviewed him around 40 times and accounts of his experiences never failed to impress me. He worked as forklift truck driver at Belfast docks and there were three assassination attempts on him, but that didn't deter him.

"In 1972 the loyalist army council sent out word they wanted to meet him, just off the Shankill Road. They wanted to send an escort, but Gerry was used to walking around Belfast and said he would make his own way there.

"He arrived at the meeting place where 12 men were sitting around a table, waiting for him. He recognised a few faces and knew these were genuinely powerful people. There was tension in the room until, finally, someone said: 'We know what you're doing'..." McRae builds to a dramatic pause, before continuing: "And then another another man said: 'And, we like it; we want you to continue.' Suddenly, things were opened up for Gerry and he was untouchable."

There are many equally fascinating, many untold accounts in the book, but one of McRae's favourites is of Protestant boxer, Davy Larmour, deciding to attend the funeral of the father of his Catholic friend and sparring partner at Holy Family, Paddy Maguire.

"These guys just saw each other as fellow fighters, so naturally, Davy wanted to go and pay his respects," McRae continues. "When he told his fellow boxers on the Shankill what he was doing, they decided to join him. So, there you have four of them, four Protestant boxers, all in their suits and walking conspicuously along the Kashmir Road, getting deeper and deeper into republican turf.

"All eyes were on them, but as they were going into the church, Paddy spotted his friend and simply said: 'There's Davy'. After that, the mood shifted and the crowd broke into appreciative applause. These were times when there was not a lot of hope on the political front and these little moments, I think, are so uplifting."

Donald McRae at the statue of world flyweight boxing champion Rinty Monaghan in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
Donald McRae at the statue of world flyweight boxing champion Rinty Monaghan in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell Donald McRae at the statue of world flyweight boxing champion Rinty Monaghan in Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

Many similarly unexpected moments are sensitively recounted in McRae's panegyric to Belfast boxing, but Gerry is acknowledged throughout as the pivotal figure, the visible "antidote to division and bitterness and hate".

The most challenging thing, the writer says, was not getting swamped in the bleakness of the time and allowing the hope and humour to break through.

Perhaps, this is best illustrated by an account given of Hugh Russell and Davy Larmour's "blood bath" of a fight in the Ulster Hall in 1982.

"They were both in a bad way and travelled to the hospital together in Davy's car, having a laugh at the thought of what they would say if they got stopped by the British army," McRae recounts fondly. "They ended up in the same ward, just a curtain between them, both needing numerous stitches.

"When the doctor came in, took one look at Hugh's face and asked what happened, his reply was: 'Oh, I'm a boxer – I'm the one who won; you should see the other guy...'"

:: In Sunshine and in Shadow by Donald McRae is published by Simon & Schuster, priced £14.99. Donald McRae will be speaking at Waterstones at 2pm on Saturday June 15, as part of the Belfast Book Festival. Tickets cost £5 and can be bought online https://belfastbookfestival.com/whats-on/donald-mcrae

BELFAST BOOK FESTIVAL

THE ninth Belfast Book Festival this year features its most eclectic mix of authors, comedians and journalists yet, with over 80 different events planned in venues across the city.

This year's theme, ‘Where do you like to read’, will appeal to regular fans as well as new ones, thanks to topics as diverse as a 'speed-dating' event with crime writers including Claire Allan and Anthony Quinn, to 'Drag Story Time' with with Electra and Dickie Bow at Crescent Arts Centre.

And, for something different, the Seamus Heaney Centre presents… TIME – where participants have seven minutes to present on a theme in the form of poetry, prose, drama, show-and-tell, original work or something revisited.

Other highlights include Life After Life With Paddy Armstrong Of The Guildford Four, English author and commentator Will Self in conversation with Northern Irish novelist Michael Hughes and an evening with Pulitzer prize-winning poet, lyricist, librettist, translator, critic, editor and professor Paul Muldoon.

:: Events run from June 7-16; for full details seebelfastbookfestival.com/about/book-festival