As my trip to Repton beckoned, my sense of anticipation grew. As a keen follower and participant of the sport it was finally time to see where boxers like Audley Harrison, Courtney Fry and the Barker brothers learnt their trade. It was finally time to put a face to a one very well respected name.

In the last six months I have visited nearly half the sixty or so gyms of London to complete the London ABA website. Despite the fact that all the clubs I have attended were aware of my impending visit it was no less a gamble as to how I would be received. Some coaches and boxers have been extremely hospitable and welcoming, others have been… less so. So as I walk through Repton’s side entrance, past the large mural that welcomes all the clubs visitors and into the main hall, my thoughts inevitably turn to my imminent welcome.

It’s a quiet Wednesday during the peak of the off-season. In the ring a coach is taking a boxer on the pads and scattered around the gym are a few other boxers hitting bags with a summer pace. It’s not hard to spot Tony Burns in the corner and as I walk towards him I search for recognition in his face. It doesn’t come. I’ve met Tony only once before, a brief encounter at the Houses of Commons, but I had spoken to him a couple of times on the phone to tell him about writing this article. But this holds me in little stead as he asks why exactly I had turned up. As I begin an explanation I find myself fumbling my words, talking at an unusually fast pace, I realise that in my own world of amateur boxing I’m star struck. This is Tony Burns, the Alex Ferguson of amateur boxing. No, the Alex Ferguson of boxing full stop.

After asking me to repeat myself I manage to explain second time round.
‘A club feature on Repton’ he responds. ‘There’s only one thing you have to know; there’s only one club in England’.
I laugh. He doesn’t. Seeing that I don’t really know how to respond he gets up and walks away, to my relief he calls behind him ‘you gonna follow me then?’

We walk into a small office at the heart of the gym, inside Kelvin Wing, junior coach and comp secretary, is making a phone call. Tony reaches over him and opens a leather folder from which he produces a sheet of paper.
‘This is all you need to know’ he says passing it to me.
On the sheet is a dozen or so names, amongst them Danny Arnold, Martin Ward and Lerron Richards. Recognising them I instantly realise that it’s a list of all Reptons Championship winners last season. I’m already familiar with the list; I’m familiar with the names and the fact that Repton had nine boxers who won titles last season. But seeing it there on the one sheet of paper it still couldn’t fail to impress me.

Last season Repton achieved what many clubs would be proud to achieve in their entire history. The fact that I already know about this feat seems to disappoint Tony, who sits on a chair behind him gesturing for me to sit on the adjacent chair.
‘So what do you want to know?’
Good question. What did I want to know? Repton is the most famous club in Britain, arguably in both the Amateur and Pro game. Articles have been written in the national newspapers, documentaries have been made. Repton is a club that has a few secrets.

There was one thing I really wanted to know, but I feared the reaction to the question. Playing devils advocate can be a dangerous game especially when you’re sitting in the middle of Repton boxing club, opposite two men who though not the sprightly young boxers they once were could still probably rip me to shreds. But I went for it.
‘What do you think about the rumours that you take all the promising boxers around London?’
The fact that you’re reading this means that they didn’t kill me, but the look I got from Tony when the words left my mouth nearly did.

‘We’ve never poached a boxer from any club… Repton isn’t a club that turn boys down. If someone comes through our doors we’ll give them a chance regardless of whether they boxed for another club.’ Tony explains.
‘The fact that a lot of people want to box for us isn’t our problem’ adds Kelvin.

Clearly agitated by my question I remind them both that this is not my opinion and that I’m merely giving them a chance to explain their side of the story. Kelvin picks up on my point and stops Tony’s understandable tirade, telling him that I’m on their side. And quite frankly I am at this point, their argument is very compelling.

It’s not uncommon for boxers to change clubs. Families move, favoured coaches leave, boxers don’t all get along. But you may think that this isn’t the reason why most boxers leave one club for Repton. And you’re right - it’s not, as Kelvin explains.
‘If you’re an English footballer you’ve got a much better chance of getting in the England team if you play for Man United than you do if you play for Fulham.’
That fact, whether right and fair or not, applies in amateur boxing in the same way that it does in the Premier League. But, unlike football, clubs don’t buy boxers. Boxers move to other clubs entirely by their own choice.

It’s certainly not surprising that Repton is such a desirable club amongst boxers, both old and new. Thanks to the high level of funding Repton receives the club is able to fund the costs of sending fighters abroad and even to provide them with spending money during their time away.
‘Repton is the richest club in the country’ Tony announces without provocation. ‘Do you know how much the subs are for a whole year?’ he asks.
I shrug.
‘£50 for seniors £25 for juniors. That’s 50p a week for juniors. We’re not the kind of club that makes money from the boxers.’

While the club’s fame makes it slightly easier to find funding then it does for smaller clubs, that’s not to say Repton’s financial situation is not a great achievement. Positioned just around the corner from Brick Lane, the building that homes Repton was once a public bath house. Surrounded by newly built apartments, Repton Boxing Club looks the same as it must have done over half a century ago. The club’s presence in such an ‘up-and-coming’ area of London is a true testament to the great work of its committee. And with a 999 year lease the club, it seems, is there to stay.

As Tony takes me for a wonder through the gym I couldn’t fail to be impressed by the history of the club, all captured by the thousands of photographs pinned to the walls. ‘This’ he says pointing to a large group of framed portraits, ‘is Repton’s Champions Wall.’
There are around 100 faces staring down at me, amongst them Maurice Hope, Andrew Lowe and Courtney Fry, to name but a few. With the wall completely full the only thing I was left to wonder was where they were going to fit the pictures of all the champions of last few seasons.

Walking along the Wall I notice another familiar face, one who could not fulfil his potential before tragedy intervened. During the week of Monday, December 11th the pages of local papers around London were filled with the tragic news that Gary Barker, an Olympian in the making, had died in a horrific car crash. It was a sad time for boxing and all involved with the sport mourned the loss of the Barker and Repton family.

Up until this point Gary Barker had simply been a face in a paper but as he stared down at me from within his frame the reality of his death sunk in. I look at Tony who has noted my interest in the photograph.
‘He was a brilliant boy. If you thought his brother [Darren Barker, current pro Commonwealth Champion] was good you should have seen this kid’.
As Tony tells me more about him he answers a question I no longer need to ask. A sad truth is that when the press cover the death of a young person, they inevitably glorify his achievements and promise. And whilst Gary was a Junior World Champion and had irrefutable junior credentials I did at times wonder whether he really was as good as the media were making out. But Tony Burns is not a sentimental man and when he tells me that ‘ Gary could have been Reptons greatest ever champion’ that’s all I need to know.

Wondering past all the photographs on the club's wall I realise, going back to a point Kelvin made earlier, that Repton is somewhat the Man United of amateur boxing. And boxing is not different to football in that everyone dislikes the biggest club, after all, it's English nature to support the underdog. But after spending some time here I find it difficult not to be charmed by the building, the club and its oldest friend Tony Burns.

Article by Stefan Johnson