The company, trading as Dick Hearns Centre, has funded the construction of the basic open-plan building, and outfitting as a functional gymnasium will be undertaken by Ballina Boxing Club with necessary aid from Ireland's Sports Capital programme, Mayo County Council and through local fund-raising. From the outset, the project had the support of the Hearns family, at a financial level and as company directors. Like their late father Dick, and undoubtedly influenced by the deep-rooted Christian spirit he shared with their mother Clare, they were prepared to put the shoulder to the wheel as need dictated. Over several years, Dick had helped many athletes and teams achieve their goals, including the great Jim Lugs Branigan who said of him; "I trained quite a lot with Dick Hearns, whom I greatly admired and learned more about boxing from Dick than I did from anybody else". 

Over many years, Ballina Boxing Club had sought a suitable site for the construction of a boxing arena in the town but there was always a snag. In September 2014, Ballina Community Sports and Leisure Centre offered a lease of grounds on their site on which to build such a dedicated boxing arena which will be known as the Dick Hearns Centre, aptly named after the great Dick Hearns, whose family were only too glad to be associated with the project. Vince and Des Hearns – sons of the great man – joined the project early on and together proved a major asset. Vince had played basketball at the highest level in his youth while Des won two All Ireland Minor medals with Dublin in the mid-fifties. Artist's impression of arena interior

Planning permission to build was granted in June 2015 and a grant application process for aid for a single-phase construction of the new arena was initiated. After an extremely lengthy application process, the idea had to be abandoned as expiry of planning permission loomed in June 2020 and a self-build on the site in two phases became the only viable option: construction of an open-plan roofed structure funded from local resources initially, with grant aid being sought for outfitting the unit as a boxing arena subsequently.

Construction of the first phase which began in June 2020 was mainly financed by a loan from Community Finance Ireland. Private donations, interest-free loans from individuals, corporate and community support and sponsorship of materials/voluntary labour all contributed towards achieving completion of the phase. A successful application for a Sports Capital Grant and to other funding sources will enable outfitting of the building as a functional boxing arena. On completion of the project, boxers from Ballina and the hinterland will be guaranteed a home for the future in the new building. Community groups and other sporting codes will be able to avail of the facilities for occasional or regular use under agreement with the club and management of Ballina Community Sports and Leisure Centre.

The new structure will house boxing and other memorabilia donated by the Hearns family as a fitting tribute to Ballina's most accomplished athlete of all time, the late Dick Hearns. The club's company currently has five directors who are in good standing within the community, and all value the sport of boxing highly. The youngest director – local GP Dr. James Harrison – is a keen sportsman who has been in attendance at a number of boxing tournaments as medical officer over the years: he will be an essential medical advisor for the company and for boxing club coaches in the years ahead as the centre functions. Like all true professionals and competitors associated with boxing, he views the sport as an art form, a game of physical chess where mental fitness, technique, skill, level of mobility and strategy are far more important than mere physical attributes: what matters is how resources are managed and adapted to suit changing requirements. Nobody in the Irish boxing community is more respected than company director Joe Lavelle, and his role in staging boxing tournaments from local to national in the new centre will be a huge asset to the company and to its success in the years ahead. Over the years the club – thanks to Joe's contacts and reputation at home and abroad – has facilitated boxing dinner shows in Ballina at which guests from London's Bedford BC and St. Pancras BC, Leeds/Yorkshire and Highfields BC of Cardiff attended.

The role of a boxing club in a community

In the course of providing training and fitness programmes in preparation for boxing competitions, young athletes gain access to local and national communities they would possibly never know otherwise, and over time will learn to appreciate membership's many personal benefits. 

Coaches in boxing clubs identify early signs of ASPD in young people and are ideally suited to deal timely with any problems which may arise. Anti-social behaviour, in any of its forms, is not condoned by boxing clubs or by the boxing community. People with ASPD often use organizations to rise to power through manipulation of weakness in individuals/system to make the group self-serving:  a serious shortcoming of democracy if not tackled at an early stage. 

Coercive Control, which is totally against the boxing ethos, is often hidden from the public eye but is very easily identified by personnel in charge of boxing clubs where any form of bullying is dealt with speedily, and sometimes that involves confronting parents or referral to outside agencies such as An Garda Síochána, and Tusla.

It is in the national interest to ensure individuals engaging in anti-social activity receive proper life-preparation at the earliest stage lest they, and others close to them as well as the community at large, suffer the consequences of their foolishness throughout their teenage years and beyond. All too often the service boxing coaches provides in this regard does not get the state recognition it deserves. No other sporting organization is capable of dealing with ASPD in the same way: the all too common use of expulsion from an organization just shifts the problem elsewhere. Boxing clubs work closely with other organizations such as An Garda Síochána, and with Tusla, to whom coaches who identify any form of abuse of the young will make a referral. All adult personnel associated with boxing clubs carry cards to show Garda clearance to work with minors and must also have certification in child protection.

See the value a boxing club gives to a community and its youngsters in the Dale Youth Boxing Club after the Grenfel Tower inferno in London in June 2017. American novelist James Baldwin wrote: "The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose." In his essay "No Name in the Street" he penned: "It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."  Everybody needs a sense of belonging and of self-worth:  those who never had this often fall victim to substance abuse or gangland crime, but boxing clubs become a home-from-home for many which in turn has very positive personal outcomes and for the local community, and early intervention is vital to ensure this. Pairings for all competitions are based on weight category, and on age/experience for younger competitors: all are made welcome in a boxing club. 

Katie Taylor  Benefits of boxing for women 

The new Dick Hearns Centre will bring Ireland's most successful Olympic sport to a wider audience locally: Irish boxers have won more than half of the medals taken home after the summer Olympics. A strict code of conduct will continue to be adhered to and social inclusion will be one of its keystones.

Boxercise is a most enjoyable activity and research has shown that it has many benefits as described in an article from Harvard Medical School in 2015. Many of Ireland's boxing clubs are underutilized and Boxercise will become available to young and old in the new Dick Hearns Centre, under the programmes organized by Ballina Boxing Club. The role of boxing training routines for patients in Rehab centres has been recognised and the new arena could be used for specific dedicated training within the local community. Sufferers living with Parkinson's disease have also found benefits in boxing gym programmes such as Rock Steady Boxing.

Ballina Community Sports and Leisure Centre will manage access to the facilities in the Dick Hearns Centre for any vacant time slots.

Dick Hearns photographed beside his trophies and medals