Tyrone McKenna to return to Palestine after Windsor Park fight to continue teaching boxing: ‘The joy they get is remarkable'

Belfast Telegraph

3 days ago

For three weeks, the 35-year-old fighter traded west Belfast for the West Bank, where he volunteered at the ACLAI Palestine gym, founded by activist Ainle O Caireallain — brother of Kneecap's Naoise O Caireallain (Móglaí Bap) — in 2020.
He previously visited Ramallah with his father and brother in 2022.
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Known as 'The Mighty Celt' in the ring, McKenna explained: 'As someone who is very passionate about Palestine, and has been there before, I knew what the situation was like, and I knew that I wanted to do more than just talking online about it and going to rallies. I wanted to put action to it.
'It's been an unbelievable experience, seeing the kids that have been through so much and still come to boxing every single day with a smile on their face.'
The gym is based at the Aida refugee camp, near Bethlehem.
The first night McKenna was there, he said his neighbours were dragged out of their house and arrested at 4am — but that was considered 'normal'.
The site, which holds more than 7,000 people, has had no running water for the past two months.
McKenna added: 'There are maybe two water taps in the whole camp, on the street, that kids have to go to every morning to fill up water buckets for their families.
'They are not able to leave and go to different cities of their own free will — they have to go through checkpoints. This isn't the kind of environment for any kid to be growing up in.'
The former world title contender said that while he was in the West Bank, news and videos circulated of two young teenage boys that were shot and killed by the Israeli Defence Forces.
After the shooting, he said that a class was put on for children as young as eight, in the same community centre where the gym at which he volunteered operates.
'They were showing these kids what to do if their family or friends are shot; how to help them, who to phone, what happens if the army throws tear gas at them. This is something that kids shouldn't be going through ever, never mind at that young of an age.
'They should be learning how to ride bikes, not how to help wounded people. It's been a really big eye-opener.
'But the joy, for them, of just going to a gym, just going to boxing, it's remarkable. They're just happy to escape from the outside world. They have somewhere safe to go and where they can get their anger and frustrations out. It helps massively. I know it's only a gym and it's only boxing, but it's a massive part of the community.'
Tyrone is also continuing to raise awareness for the gym and its fundraising page, as it is self-funded and relies heavily on donations.
'It's going well, but there's still a long way to go. They've got a quote of £65,000 a year to keep the gym open, so we're just trying our best to make that happen,' he said.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 61,020 people and left 150,671 injured.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.