Fresh from becoming European Small Countries Champions on Sunday, Basketball Ireland were continuing the celebrations yesterday with confirmation that they have been granted permission for the National League to start on October 9th and 10th.
It follows a submission to Sport Ireland, which has been approved by Sport Ireland, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, along with the government’s Return to Sport Expert Group.
Senior Super League and Division One clubs will be allowed to resume collective training from next Monday, August 23rd, while pre-season games can start from September 13th.
They will be the first games to be played since March of 2020. Last winter’s League and Cup campaigns were abandoned due to the more severe restrictions applied to indoor sport and gatherings.
“After our senior men claimed gold at the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries last night, this is more excellent news for basketball here in Ireland,” said Chair Paul McDevitt.
“We’re delighted to have been given the green light for our senior National League teams to return. We’ve been in lengthy discussions with Sport Ireland and this is the first step in getting our sport back.”
“I’d like to thank Sport Ireland for helping us get to this point and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with them to ensure basketball at all levels can get back fully as soon as possible.”
“We will be in contact with our National League clubs to outline further details, including the protocols that will need to be followed, and we will give clubs the assistance they require to return to the court,” added interim CEO, Paddy Boyd.
“They have shown great resilience over the last 17 months since the National League was halted in March 2020, including having to deal with the late cancellation of the 2020/21 season.”
“I would like to reassure those teams outside the National League that we have not forgotten about them and our desire is to get everyone in the sport back playing indoors as swiftly as we can. We are working tirelessly in the background with Sport Ireland, the government and the government’s Sport Expert Group.”
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