Sinn Féin councillor: Don't let Tyson Fury fight in Croke Park

Sinn Féin’s Sorcha Nic Cormaic has called on the GAA not to allow Tyson Fury to fight in Croke Park.

The boxer, whose family are Irish, became the heavyweight champion of the world last Saturday when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko.

On Tuesday he told RTÉ Radio 1 he would be interested in defending his title at GAA headquarters.

“I’ve always said there’s a couple of venues I want to box in the world,” Fury told Sean O’Rourke. “One of them is Madison Square Garden; I’ve done that one. One of them is Old Trafford; I haven’t done that one.

“The other one is Croke Park. That’s the three venues I want to box in.”

GAA’s stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna told the Irish Examiner it was something they would consider.

“It is flattering to be seen as a venue for a world champion,” he said. “There are things like weather, timing and our own fixtures list to consider but if we were approached we would listen.”

But Nic Cormaic, Sinn Féin Councillor for Dundrum on Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, has called on the GAA not to allow a bout take place until the boxer recants statements he made in relation to homosexuality and paedophilia.

“There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home: one of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other one’s paedophilia,” Fury said to the Mail on Sunday in early November.

“Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?

“When I say paedophiles can be made legal, that sounds like crazy talk doesn’t it? But back in the 50s and early 60s, for them first two to be made legal would have been looked on as a crazy man again.”

Video from Channel 4 News.

He has

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“If somebody doesn’t like gay people, then you wouldn’t have any gay friends, would you?”

But Nic Cormaic isn’t satisfied with his remarks on the issue.

“To imply that homosexuality, in any shape or form, is similar to paedophilia is outrageous and is a reflection of Tyson’s ignorance,” she said.

“In May this year the Irish people voted overwhelmingly for a positive inclusive Ireland, which treated members of the gay and straight community equally, and for Tyson’s fight to go ahead would represent a retrograde step and should be opposed.

“He is an unfit role model and would be an anathema to what the GAA is about.”

Nic Cormaic is not the only person to object to Fury’s views.

The boxer has been nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but a

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Since Nic Cormaic made her comments Fury has been embroiled in further controversy when a video of him making

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