What Happened Basketball In Ireland

JONJO THE MISER

Just after watching a great docu on Rte called we got game about basketball in Ireland in 1980's and 90's and how popular the game was.
I remember when RTE used to show basketball games on a Friday and Saturday night, so what happened?

dd972

All the construction worked dried up for those 7ft tall Lithuanians

Wacker The Attacker

a load of me hoop(s)

moneyman

Multiple reasons, but probably the most damaging was the decision to limit the amount of Americans each team could have.

jill_valentine

Just watched it there now. It was like archive footage from a parallel universe, I had no idea or awareness or any of this world.

Al Capwned

I remember a womens team from my town (Castledermot) won the National Championship around '88 or so. Was huuuuge at the time, but it's where my knowledge of basketball ends.

MadYaker

Its a sh!te sport anyway.

Karl Stein

MadYaker wrote: »

Its a sh!te sport anyway.

Here we go...

Davdee1

White paddies can't jump!!!!

TouchingVirus

These people might know...

My name is URL

Davdee1 wrote: »

White paddies can't jump!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Burke

oppenheimer1

There must be some way we can blame the GAA for its demise?:rolleyes:

Mickey H

It's an interesting question. Honest answer, I don't know. We played alot of it in school, but since then, it seems to have slipped under the radar.

It's probably still very popular, but just no TV coverage.

moneyman

MadYaker wrote: »

Its a sh!te sport anyway.

Spoken like a true insecure GAA man!

padd b1975

Ahhh yes...

Team Harp from Ballina with the McHale brothers, Kevin McStay's brother Paul and Dunkin' Deora Marsh.

osarusan

The only name I can remember is Jerome Westbrook.

MadYaker

moneyman wrote: »

Spoken like a true insecure GAA man!

Im about as far as you can get from a GAA fan.

darced

This post has been deleted.

Boom__Boom

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

There must be some way we can blame the GAA for its demise?:rolleyes:

Really doubt it given how stong it was and still is in Kerry.

jill_valentine

moneyman wrote: »

Multiple reasons, but probably the most damaging was the decision to limit the amount of Americans each team could have.

That was the show's clear conclusion alright.

Very sad though, the energy of the games and the mania of the crowds in the old footage was crazy, it's mad to think it just evaporated so completely.

I mean, I was born in 1985, and that all looked like another universe to my eyes. If it wasn't for all the Premier Milk and Calor Gas signs (and the occasional set of pasty legs) it might as well have been a different country altogether.

weldon

For anyone not lucky enough to catch it on TV:

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10197093/

jill_valentine

Honestly, do check it out if you missed it, it's the best thing I've seen on RTE in donkey's years.

numorouno

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h0qBsQ34jSc

a blast from the past for the main commentator. Timmy the legend

catbear

I was caught up in the 80s craze, went to the summer camp in Dungarvan, went to the tournaments in Inchacore etc. I think a lot of it was demographic, there were loads of young people and the GAA and other incumbent sports couldn't handle the swell.

Plus Ireland was opening up and people had a hunger for more international sports. The NBA was a sporting spectacle whereas the pre premier league soccer looked dull, date and old fashioned in comparison.

I went to a traditional hurling school and while Basketball was played outside school hours there were students told to stop playing basketball or they'd be dropped from the school hurling team.

Naturally this caused a standoff and it made basketball the rebel sport and hurling conformist. It had been taken for granted that GAA had supremacy, school games times were used as practice sessions for the good players while everyone else was used as hurley fodder.

That was another big draw for basketball, it was easier to referee and if you were assaulted the offender would get an unambiguous ban. In hurling the good players tended to be spared official retribution, a three week ban meant nothing if the next game wasn't for a month.

Another thing that parents loved was that it was mostly an indoor game, I know my parents were glad not to have to stand on the sideline of a stormy wet windy pitch half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

Basketball clubs weren't as territorial as GAA. It was more your school or which side of town you came from. If a time was getting too small it was no hassle to split up and join other teams etc. Bureaucracy was minimal.

In the end other sports learned form Basketball and that big demographic wedge of young people wanting to hang out in a friendly fun sport passed went off to work, college, parenthood etc.
http://tfw.cachefly.net/snm/images/nm/pyramids/ei-1990.png

I played my last full game about three years ago but a cracked rib taking forever to heal finished my career. To me it was always about fun. I remember my GAA raised father being slow to warm to the more sportsmanly basketball atmosphere, he'd talk about traveling to hurling games as a young lad in armed gangs hoping for a fight!

osarusan

There was a show called irish basketball monthly on setanta last year. Don't know if it's still on.

Episodes on youtube too, from the user basketballireland.

First episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ABfFjPXNRk

keeponhurling

Does every sport have to be popular in every country ?

Gyalist

Good times. On my first day in Ireland I was walking across O'Connell bridge and 3 teenaged girls shouted, "Jerome, Jerome" and mimicked dribbling a basketball. I didn't realise the significance of this until I met Jerome Westbrooks a few months later. They'd obviously mistaken me for him even though, as I pointed out to him at the time, I was considerably younger.

Looking back now it seems incredible how popular basketball was in the 80s even though there was very little in the way of infrastructure for it. I remember huge crowds packing into venues like the Oblates Hall in Inchicore and the IWA Hall in Clontarf. If that happened today the Health and Safety people would shut the place down.

cormie

Never played it growing up other than having a net stuck to the back of my house, there wasn't room to even attempt a dribble. We did it in school maybe one PE class a year, I loved it but all the 90% of the class we're complaining and wanted to go out to the field to kick a ball, the rest of the class being non sporty didn't care either way and we never got a proper game and didn't know the proper rules.

Got into it 3 summer's ago after befriending a Lithuanian and have become addicted since. Brilliant sport. Really involving, exciting, challenging and intense. Play at least 5 days out of 7 every week now in different pick up games around Dublin and Wicklow, all overflowing with players from all over the globe.

yermandan

Cormie,

Other than Mountjoy Square, where else in Dublin are there games?

Duck's hoop

Still hugely popular within the Latvian/Estonian/Lithuanian and Phillipino communities.

Also leagues going strong, coverage on rte wireless for big games.

NBA in Tallaght could do with a spruce but it still gets lots of use.

TommiesTank

Davdee1 wrote: »

White paddies can't jump!!!!

That's alright, at least most can swim.

Howard Juneau

Brilliant sport, the mid to late 80's was when it was at its zenith. Kids looked upon the American players as demi-gods.
Quite a few players married Irish women & remained here. Irish goalkeeper Darren Randolph is the son of Ed Randolph who played here in the 80's

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Al Capwned wrote: »

I remember a womens team from my town (Castledermot) won the National Championship around '88 or so. Was huuuuge at the time, but it's where my knowledge of basketball ends.

i remember going to a few basketball games in or around the same time in colaiste lorcain and there was generally a decent crowd at them, maybe more than you'd have seen at the football. i was very young though, 25+ people looked like the million man march.

iDave

Watched a bit of it in the Olympics, the final between USA and Spain was quite enjoyable having never watched a full match properly before.
The RTE commentator was bloody brilliant, cant remember his name but he was having an orgasm during the whole match.

numorouno

iDave wrote: »

Watched a bit of it in the Olympics, the final between USA and Spain was quite enjoyable having never watched a full match properly before.
The RTE commentator was bloody brilliant, cant remember his name but he was having an orgasm during the whole match.

Timmy McCarthy. video above of him doibg "downtown"

razorblunt

Played a bit when I was younger, it's still pretty popular in cork with a few teams floating around the city, Neptune, Demons and Iona to name a few. I know in my case I effect it a) to focus on rugby and b) to focus on school, having to travel all around cork county on a cold Tuesday night got boring quickly.

smoking_kills

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Just after watching a great docu on Rte called we got game about basketball in Ireland in 1980's and 90's and how popular the game was.
I remember when RTE used to show basketball games on a Friday and Saturday night, so what happened?

People found their Remote Controls.

checkyabadself

I played at school and for my local club in Cork. We were quite good and went to the national championships the lay year of school and came third.

There was a huge following in the 90's when I was in school anyways and I've always been and still am a huge fan.
After saving up for the last few months myself and my girlfriend are going on my dream holiday to Miami in January to see them play the Boston Celtics, LA Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I stay up late to watch around 220 nba games every year so im one of the few who never lost the bug.

gramar

Burgerland Neptune vs Blue Demons and a bicycle wheel for a hoop.
Those were the days.

handsome ken

no doubt Basketball took a bit of a hammering in the mid-nineties but it is starting to get its s**t together over the last few years. i took a break from the game for about ten years but got back into it over the last three or so, mainly refereeing again and a bit of coaching but you can see that BI are trying to put their house in order.

this year the "Premier League" will allow 2 "non-nationals" on the court under certain conditions during the game which should bring back some of the free scoring and dunking that all basketball lovers like to see.

also there are some really talented youngsters playing the game now - way above the skill levels of young players of my generation and this has alot to do with the fact basketball has some very dedicated coaches willing to put the time into developing their players both at individual and team levels.

i think the game has come on leaps and bounds (no puns intended) in the last few years and the future looks good as long as people high up in BI are willing to put whatever resources are needed back into the game and the players.

MJ23

Foods that start with the letter Q.

cormie

yermandan wrote: »

Cormie,

Other than Mountjoy Square, where else in Dublin are there games?

I don't really want to post it publicly as the games are all quite overcrowded but there's indoor games around sheriff st and ringsend.

CrabRevolution

Always found it sorta strange that despite the sheer number of houses with basketball hoops at the side/back and that a lot of schools have hoops, basketball has almost no presence in the sporting mind of the country.

My school was in what's often called a 'strong GAA area' and they had a full sized indoor court built with dressing rooms and a viewing balcony, was never really used for basketball as nobody had any interest playing. Our school team had maybe one Irish person on it, from what I recall, was nearly always foreigners who played.

jugger0

Awful sport, always dreaded PE when we would have to play that muck.. even worse than rounders.

weldoninhio

Was always seen as a girls game in my school. Girls would play basketball and boys would play soccer in PE.

Bundy7

Why not find out for yourself, Saturday next, 12th October, UCD Marian vs Killester at 7.00 in Belfield. As drawback to previous posts there will be two Westbrooks on Killester team, Jerome's sons. Marian American has 45 inch vertical! DRinks after in Clubhouse Bar. Pizza competition, half time shot comp and other promo on the night. See UCD Marian Facebook for info.

Bundy7

Dam auto correct. Throwback not drawback!

ElvisChrist6

It wasn't even that long ago, maybe 8 years ago I remember watching basketball on the tele. I think it was secondary school basketball, can't remember. Then, after that, there was not a thing about it from RTE, always thought that was strange.

Our local school here seems to be very good, they have an excellent outdoor court, and its used regularly.
There is also a court up near the village, which is used every night too.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Bundy7 wrote: »

Why not find out for yourself, Saturday next, 12th October, UCD Marian vs Killester at 7.00 in Belfield. As drawback to previous posts there will be two Westbrooks on Killester team, Jerome's sons. Marian American has 45 inch vertical! DRinks after in Clubhouse Bar. Pizza competition, half time shot comp and other promo on the night. See UCD Marian Facebook for info.

Sounds like a plug for a porn star...

Bundy7 wrote: »

Dam auto correct. Throwback not drawback!

... reacharound?

PizzamanIRL

It would be handy if you didn't have to pay about 50 euro an hour to play a bit of basketball in an indoor court.

America you can play whenever you want. In ireland you've to pay by the hour. Load of balls.