Neeson originally joined All Saints Amateur Boxing Club in Ballymena at the age of nine.
Liam Neeson has stepped down as president of All Saints Amateur Boxing Club in Ballymena following a disagreement over his role in a video campaigning for the repeal of the eighth amendment in the Irish constitution.
According to the Sunday Life (via the Irish News), it is understood that some locals were upset at Neeson’s public support of the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment in Ireland, particularly in light of the boxing club’s close ties with the Catholic Church.
A member of All Saints Amateur Boxing Club told the Sunday Life that Neeson had stood down as president, but provided no further comment.
The video, released by Amnesty International Ireland in October of last year, was narrated by Neeson and attracted criticism from some quarters for being anti-Catholic and from anti-abortion campaigners for being ‘shockingly offensive’.
Clip via Amnesty International Ireland
The words spoken by Neeson in the video were written by Graham Linehan, the creator of Father Ted and a strong advocate of the Repeal the Eighth campaign.
Linehan defended Neeson on Twitter on Monday morning, saying he stood by “every word he wrote for him”.
Liam had the guts to take a stand for Irish women and here's the fallout. Still stand by every word I wrote for him https://t.co/SBLWKFpzzI
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) December 5, 2016
Read: What is the Eighth Amendment and should we repeal it?
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