AFEWEE amateur boxing club has taken a crucial step towards securing a permanent home.
After the London riots in 2011, Afewee founder Steadman Scott decided to set up a community boxing club in the heart of Brixton. They have had a hall to use in the Brixton Recreation Centre but have been campaigning for their own gym. Lambeth Council and GLL have agreed in principle to give them a permanent room in the Brixton Rec. But the club will need to raise £30,000 itself towards the £60,000 in total to turn the space into a functioning boxing club.
“That’s going to secure our legacy so it’s permanent here for at least seven years, they’ve agreed, seven to 10 years we’ll be homed and that will allow us to build as well. That’s what these kids need, a permanent place where they can come and develop,” young head coach Bobby Miltiadous said.
Afewee’s Peter Armstrong added, “I think spaces are important. It’s that aspect of a boxing club which is like a youth centre, a youth club. They take ownership, they decorate it, it’s got its history documented on the walls.
“If you are exposed to an environment where you learn discipline, passion and commitment, in whatever area, it’s transferable.”
The original inspiration for the boxing club came from seeing the success of London 2012, so it’s fitting their campaign to secure a gym of their own takes place in an Olympic year. “Central Brixton hasn’t got an amateur club that focuses on getting kids off the streets,” said Miltiadous.
They have a Just Giving page for donations towards the gym here: https://campaign.justgiving.com/charity/afewee-trainingcentre/permanent-community-boxing-gym.
Afewee has recently had its first five boxers carded. Miltiadous recalls the first time he saw a boxer compete in an Afewee vest: “It was probably the most I’d ever wanted to win because it was number one and we got off to a winning start so that was important.” In total now the club’s boxers have had three bouts, with a winning 2-1 record.
