Peace seems on the verge of breaking out in the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) after years of bickering. Following what one of the outgoing officers has described as one of the most traumatic years in the association's history, matters seem to have settled down. When the election of officers comes up at the annual convention on Sunday week, only two of the top positions will be contested.

Given the extraordinary events of the past few years, the up-beat tone of some of the official reports this year is something of a minor miracle. In fact the man who has written the president's report was not even a candidate for the presidency at the last annual convention. On that occasion, Nicky White from Wexford, was elected unopposed. During the months which followed, however, major problems arose and deep divisions appeared, the most notable being the passing of a vote of no confidence in White.

This followed his appearance at a tournament staged by a breakaway boxing association in Wales which brought a strong protest from the official Welsh body and the airing of threats that the IABA might be shunned internationally unless White was disciplined.

There were even reports that the Ulster provincial council might break away.

In the weeks which followed, the sitting vicepresident, Breandan O Conaire, assumed the presidency in the continued absence from meetings by White, and O Conaire is now the only candidate for the position.

Other resignations from top positions followed in the wake of the first. The long-serving secretary Joe Kirwan resigned "for personal reasons" and Martin Power, the treasurer, also offered his resignation but later withdrew although he is not going forward for the position this year. One of the most astonishing resignations was that of Harry Doherty from Belfast from the Standing Committee. He had been a central player in the "heave" two years previously which resulted in the ousting of Felix Jones, who had held the presidency for 25 years, and was frequently mentioned as being presidential material.

The "heave" also managed to bring about a climate of some transparency and accountability in the ranks of the trustees of the association. That body, which always acted as though it was not accountable to the parent body, is now greatly changed in personnel and structure. In reference to a draft new Deed of Trust, the secretary, who took over after Joe Kirwan's resignation, Sean Crowley has this to say: "This opportunity [to ratify the draft] must not be missed. We now have an instrument which avails us the facility of having the accounts and reports of the trustees - including The Ringside Club and the National Gymnasium - available to the members meeting in annual convention, in tandem with the ordinary reports and accounts of the IABA. The new Deed of Trust will copper-fasten this position," he says. All of which gets to the nub of the problems which have haunted the IABA for many years. Rank and file members were frequently treated with scorn when they sought any information about the financial affairs of the trustees, a self perpetuating body which was set up in 1938.

In his report this year Breandan O Conaire looked to the future. "Many of our problems in the past have been largely self-inflicted. Internal bickering and the pursuit of personal and purely sectional and divisive agendas have seriously weakened our effectiveness in the past. Nobody, least of all the boxers and the sport of amateur boxing, gains from this divisive squabbling. It is a self-defeating dead-end.

"On the other hand, an organisation united in pursuit of the same common goals and ideals, in a spirit of mutual and combined endeavour, can achieve great things".

O Conaire outlines some of the things which have already been achieved in recent times. "The National Gymnasium (converted from an Army gun-room on a site acquired from the Minister for Defence) project has now been finalised: our national squad will now be in a position to train in this facility on a regular basis.

"The HQ office has acquired a new computer and has established an IABA site on the Internet, a very necessary requirement in today's world of instant communication. On another front we have our first female judge, Margaret Fahy, appointed at European Amateur Boxing Association level". O Conaire also outlines his hopes for the future. "A crucial process has now commenced which will, hopefully, conclude with the summoning of an emergency general meeting to consider and ratify a new Trust Deed governing the structures, administration and management of the IABA which will launch the association, efficiently organised, unified and focused into the new millenium."

If the Good Ship IABA is now heading for calmer and warmer waters, it behoves the crew as well as those of us who watch from the shore, to hope that the voyage will be successfully completed without any further mutiny.