Belfast’s Olympic medallist boxer turned photographer Hugh Russell “captured a window” in the turbulent recent history of Northern Ireland, his funeral has heard.
Crowds of mourners, including retired world champion boxer Carl Frampton, Olympic medallist Paddy Barnes and IBO super-featherweight title holder Anthony Cacace, turned out to say a final farewell at his funeral in Belfast.
The 63-year-old died in the early hours of Friday following an illness.
Russell became a well-known figure as a young man thanks to his prowess in the boxing ring, winning bronze medals at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton and the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, both in the flyweight division.
As a professional he claimed British and Irish bantamweight and flyweight titles.
Russell, known affectionately as “Little Red”, went on to work as an award-winning photographer for the newspaper the Irish News, during which time he recorded “momentous historical events”.
Members of the Holy Family Boxing Club, where Russell got his start as a young boy, stood in a line outside St Patrick’s Church on Belfast’s Donegall Street as the coffin was carried in.
Later, after the funeral had finished, press photographers, several wearing their cameras around their necks, lined up on either side to the entrance of the church as a mark of respect to their colleague.
Russell’s coffin was then carried past the nearby former Irish News offices as staff lined the street and applauded.
The crowds also included Sinn Fein North Belfast John Finucane, with his party colleague Caral Ni Chulin, UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt, SDLP veteran Alban Maginness, journalists Barney Rowan and Mervyn Jess, Richard Moore from Children in Crossfire, and entertainment personality John Lenihan, who plays the character May McFettridge.
Addressing the funeral, Father Michael Spence, noted mementoes brought to the front of the church in memory of Russell, including a pair of boxing gloves, a camera, a golf score card and a family photograph.
He said Russell was a role model and inspiration for many, adding his life had a “ripple effect on so many other lives”.
“As this city was being torn apart in the Troubles, Hugh, like many others, found a sanctuary in sport. Many sporting organisations and clubs provided that sort of space for young people in those darker times,” he said.
He undoubtedly inspired many, including a new generation of very successful boxers— Father Michael Spence
“Hugh believed that boxing gave kids discipline and a sense of belonging as you quickly became a member of an even larger family.
“His achievements are easy to list, what is much more difficult to quantify is the influence that Hugh himself had on younger people, and on boxers in particular.
“He undoubtedly inspired many, including a new generation of very successful boxers.”
Turning to his 40-year career as a photographer, Fr Spence said Russell has left a record that will provide a window for future generations.
“He captured moments of ordinary every day life in this city and beyond, he captured moments of horror and heartbreak, he captured moments of ecstatic joy, he recorded momentous historical events.
“I was thinking of one shot in particularly of Ian Paisley senior going through the door of Stormont and Martin McGuinness patting (him) on the back. Hugh captured the moment.
“For those working in the media in general, when covering tragic events, there’s probably a very fine line in capturing an event on camera and reporting it, and intruding on people’s privacy, and heartache and grief.
“Hugh got that fine line correct. He displayed a great sensitivity in that regard, and that speaks volumes about the character of the man.
“As his family described him, he was a kind man with a heart of gold.”
He went on: “Hugh Russell has left a record that will provide a window for current and future generations into the social, cultural, political life of this part of the world for the closing decades of the 20th century, and the opening ones of the 21st.
“He’s done a great service for current and future generations, and his photographs, they’re like a time capsule of the last 40 years.
“He was a successful boxer, and a role model and an inspiration for many. He was a successful and acclaimed photographer. He was a great friend to many but first and foremost, he was a family man.”
