Gerry Murphy v Boxing Victoria (with Boxing Australia)

The Applicant is a coach and a member of the Respondent. The Respondent, Boxing Victoria, is the Victorian Member State Association for the sport of Olympic boxing in Australia. The referring National Sporting Organisation is Boxing Australia.

The Applicant lodged an application with the National Sports Tribunal (NST) on 26 March 2025. The application was validated by the NST CEO on 10 April 2025.

The dispute arose from a complaint submitted by the Applicant to Boxing Victoria following the suspension of his membership and the subsequent refusal to re-register his membership for the 2025 season.

The Applicant submitted that the decisions to suspend him were made without procedural fairness, in breach of Boxing Victoria’s Constitution, and as part of an attempt to oust the Applicant from the organisation without just cause. 

Boxing Victoria submitted that the Applicant had engaged in “cross-coding” by publicly announcing via social media that he had accepted a position on the board of another boxing organisation not sanctioned by Boxing Australia, and by encouraging boxers to participate in unsanctioned competitions. This conduct was said to be in breach of various regulations and policies of Boxing Victoria and/or Boxing Australia, and to give rise to a power of Boxing Victoria to suspend and ultimately refuse to re-register the Applicant. 

Boxing Australia provided written submissions supporting the validity of the relevant policies and the powers exercised by Boxing Victoria but did not otherwise participate in the proceedings.

An oral hearing was convened on 22 August 2025, at which the parties made oral submissions and tendered further evidence.

On 29 August 2025, the NST Member determined the dispute. The Member found that Boxing Victoria breached its Constitution by immediately suspending the Applicant, without first allowing the Applicant a reasonable opportunity to respond to the allegation of Cross-Coding, as prescribed by and in breach of the Cross-Coding Regulations.