When the McCormack twins, Pat and Luke, first stepped through the door of Birtley Boxing Club as energetic 12-year-olds a decade ago, they arrived with losing records and a less-than-glowing reference from a former coach.
"He told me not to bother about them because they were a waste of time," recalled Birtley coach Graeme Rutherford, under whose guidance the twins would begin their remarkable rise to become British boxing history-makers.
In Hamburg this month the McCormacks will be the first twins to represent Great Britain at a World Championships. Along with their club-mate Calum French, they are also the first trio from the same club to qualify for the tournament.
Rutherford, a former boxer and local scrap metal merchant who reluctantly took over coaching at the club when his predecessors suddenly quit, is frank about the potential - or lack of it - of the trio when he first saw them lace on gloves.
Luke had won his first fight, only to be subsequently disqualified when it was revealed he had forgotten to put on any hand wraps, while Pat was fresh from a bout with French - then representing a rival club - so wild they claim it threatened to put out the ring lights.
Rutherford told Press Association Sport: "They were awful boxers when they first arrived, terrible. They hadn't had many fights, they all had losing records and they were a bit misguided.
"But this club is about giving kids a sense of belonging and purpose, and proving if they put in the work they can get whatever they want out of it. Not everyone who comes through the door will be a champion, but we've shown they can do it if they live a dedicated life and devote themselves to the club."
Despite a £1.2million funding boost from Sport England which led to relatively lavish new facilities in 2010, Birtley, tucked behind a giant Morrisons supermarket in a village just south of Gateshead, is still not a club for the faint-hearted. In 2016, it was the only venue willing to stage a novice final between fighters from two warring traveller families, banned elsewhere on police advice.
But under Rutherford's no-nonsense approach - "there was no trouble," he shrugs, in regard to the contest in question - the club has grown into one of the nation's most successful production lines for young boxing talent.
Pat won the world junior title in 2011 and went to the Rio Olympics, and Luke has never been far behind him. Full-time members of the GB elite squad in Sheffield, where they train four days a week, all three came home from the European Championships in Ukraine with medals round their necks and world qualification in the bag.
"Graeme is an unbelievable coach," said Pat, who has moved up to welterweight since his Rio campaign was ended via a controversial split decision to Cuban Yasniel Tolede in his second bout. "When I first came here and he told me I could box for England, it wasn't even something I knew was possible."
Luke also went to Rio, albeit as part of the team's pre-tournament preparation camp. "We've done it all together through our careers so having to sit in the stands and watch Pat in the Olympics broke my heart," he admitted.
French's story in particular is testament to the club's reputation for turning errant fortunes around. He had given up boxing in his early teens, but, after losing his job as a shift worker at the local Nissan factory, was given a job on the scrap by Rutherford, and was coaxed back into the gym.
French, who subsequently reached the podium in Kharkiv in his first major senior tournament, said: "Moving to Birtley was a massive step in my boxing career, probably the biggest I've ever made. Graeme's been there in and out of the ring for all of us. I think that's what separates Birtley from the rest - it's complete dedication."
Rutherford is clearly not the type to court compliments. But there is a shine in his eye as he guides visitors around the transformed club, pointing out clippings of countless novice and schoolboy champions who adorn the walls.
"It was beyond my wildest dreams to get three going to the Europeans," he said. "Then it was beyond my wildest dreams to get three medals and three going to the worlds.
"It would be absolutely mind-blowing to get all of them going to the Olympics."
Source: PA
