Father Dave’s Fight Club is being evicted from the Holy Trinity Church in Dulwich Hill and has been ordered to have all items removed from the premises by 28 December 2021.
The well-known fight club run by ‘boxing priest’ Father David Smith has been providing outreach services to at-risk youth in the inner West for 30 years.
Father Dave has received a notice of eviction from the church in Dulwich Hill, where he had been Parish Priest for 30 years, asking him to remove all equipment belonging to the club and to vacate the premises.
“We have been working with local young people here for more than three decades and this is a significant blow – not only to me, I believe, but to the broader community,” Father Dave said.
“The church is throwing us out and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to stop this happening or even to get a short delay of execution.”
Father Dave established the flight club in 1991 along with a drop-in centre for young people addicted to heroin, who he supported to beat their habit through boxing.
Father Dave later became a professional boxer to raise money to fund the fight flub. He was twice awarded Citizen of the Year by Marrickville Council, and nominated for Australian of the Year three times on the strength of his work with young people at risk.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight club was working with a large number of young people, taking referrals from government agencies and welfare organisations, and catering to local kids from the inner West. It ran weekend fitness camps in the bush and worldwide mission trips.
Closed during the COVID restrictions, the fight club has only recently opened its doors again.
“And now the church is throwing us out. I asked for a six-month extension so that we could find a new location. They’ve refused to even give us an extra day!” said Father Dave.
“We are desperate for new premises so that the fight club can continue and minister to young people for years to come.”
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