The new season in Irish Basketball was launched this week and will see the expansion of the game’s top flight to ten teams from eight.
Templeogue join four other teams from Dublin while Belfast Star expands the geographic reach of the League that has three two teams from Cork, University of Limerick and Moycullen from Galway.
The Superleague is as yet without a sponsor for the start of the season with Nivea having withdrawn its long term support in the off season.
The opportunity to become involved in the top flight of a sport with massive appeal at youth level is one that may not last for long. There are over 300,000 registered players of the sport in Ireland, and it received another national boost at the weekend when Michael Daragh Macauley was credited as having benefited hugely in his Dublin Gaelic Football skills from a youth spent playing the game.
Liam McHale and Kieran Donaghy have similarly graduated from playing the sport at college level to going on to major honours in gaelic games and the skills learned in one are clearly and readily transferable to the other.
The financial problems which Basketball Ireland faced have been addressed head on and the association has been brought to a much more stable position under the stewardship of Bernard O’Byrne. The expansion of the top flight is a positive sign and the sight of so many local children enthused by the action at the National Basketball Arena shows there is plenty going for the sport.
The decision to pull the international team at senior level was made out of necessity and is tough on a generation of players that might otherwise have represented their country but already there is a return to under age international competition and it is hoped that the absence from a world stage will be temporary among the older age groups.
The sport is rebuilding towards a sustainable future. One which is based on extensive youth appeal in schools and colleges.
A major benefit for brands looking to become involved is the parity between the men’s and women’s game with both featuring on the sport’s biggest days and both maintaining a wide geographic spread of teams at Superleague level.
The Women’s Superleague also has teams from Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Limerick and Waterford.
Basketball Ireland will be one of the sports presenting sponsorship opportunities on October 8th at Sport for Business 2020. Click here for more details of this event or contact us today if you are interested as a business in supporting the sport.
