James "Jem" Roche (; 5 September 1878 – 28 November 1934) was an Irish

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

coach.

Early life

Roche was born in Ballinclay near to Killurin,

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

in 1878. The family later moved to

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

town, and Jem attended Wexford CBS and worked for a time as a

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at Carton's forge in Ballycarney.

Sporting career

Boxing

His first amateur fight took place in 1894 in the Town Hall (now Wexford Arts Centre). Roche, aged 16, knocked out his opponent, a soldier named Billy Murphy. The referee, Nicholas T. Tennant, later became Roche's coach. In 1900, aged 22, he won his first national title when he knocked out Jack Fitzpatrick in the Antient Concert Rooms (later the Academy Cinema on Pearse Street, Dublin) to become Irish

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

champion. He retained that title for five years before losing to Young John L. Sullivan in 1905 in the Earlsfort Terrace Rink, Dublin. Roche defeated Sullivan in 1905 and retained the title in 1906 and 1907. In October 1907 Roche scored a major victory, knocking out Charlie Wilson (former British heavyweight champion) in the

Olympia Theatre, Dublin The Olympia Theatre, branded since 2021 for sponsorship purposes as the 3Olympia Theatre, is a concert hall and theatre venue in Dublin, Ireland, located on Dame Street. In addition to Irish acts, the venue has played host to many well-known in ...

, which set him up for a title shot. On

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

1908, Roche fought Tommy Burns for the world

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

title at the

Theatre Royal, Dublin Over the centuries, there have been five theatres in Dublin called the Theatre Royal. In the history of the theatre in Great Britain and Ireland, the designation "Theatre Royal", or "Royal Theatre", once meant that a theatre had been granted a ...

, with a purse of £1,500 (split 80:20). He was knocked out after 88 seconds. This is sometimes described as the shortest world heavyweight fight at the time, but Burns had beaten Bill Squires in the same time the previous July, and

James J. Jeffries James Jackson Jeffries (April 15, 1875 – March 3, 1953) was an American professional boxer and List of world heavyweight boxing champions, world heavyweight champion. He was known for his enormous strength and stamina. Jeffries fought out of ...

had won a 1900 title fight in 55 seconds. Roche lost his Irish heavyweight title in 1910 to Matthew 'Nutty' Curran; he regained the title in 1913 when he again beat John L. Sullivan. He retired from boxing in that year.

Gaelic football

Roche played for the Young Irelands club, based in Selskar. He was appointed trainer of the Wexford senior football team and they went on win six consecutive

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

s (1913–18) and four consecutive

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

s (1915–18).

Personal life

Roche married Bridget Furlong in 1908 and they lived in Wexford and had five children: their sons Pierce and Seamus also had careers in boxing. Roche worked as a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

lican,

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

and commission agent's manager; he died in 1934, aged fifty-six. His grand nephew

Dick Roche Richard Roche (born 30 March 1947) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister of State for European Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and 2007 to 2011 and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government from 2004 to ...

(born 1947) became a TD and cabinet minister. His grandson

Billy Roche Billy Roche (born 11 January 1949) is an Irish playwright and actor. He was born and still lives in Wexford and most of his writings are based there. Originally a singer with The Roach Band, he turned to writing in the 1980s. He has written a n ...

(born 1949) is a playwright. A plaque in his memory was erected in Wexford's "Bull Ring" in 1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Jem 1878 births 1934 deaths Bookmakers Gaelic football coaches Irish male boxers Irish publicans Heavyweight boxers Middleweight boxers Boxers from County Wexford Wexford county football team non-playing personnel People from Wexford, County Wexford