What Happened Basketball In Ireland

Howard Juneau · 10-09-2013 08:44AM

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 · 10-09-2013 08:50AM

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 · 10-09-2013 09:27AM

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 · 10-09-2013 09:28AM

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 · 10-09-2013 09:49AM

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 · 10-09-2013 09:53AM

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 · 10-09-2013 09:59AM

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 · 10-09-2013 10:07AM

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

handsome ken · 10-09-2013 10:22AM

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 · 10-09-2013 10:52AM

Foods that start with the letter Q.

cormie · 10-09-2013 10:54AM

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 · 10-09-2013 01:52PM

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 · 10-09-2013 01:58PM

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

weldoninhio · 10-09-2013 02:34PM

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

Bundy7 · 09-10-2013 12:18PM

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 · 09-10-2013 12:19PM

Dam auto correct. Throwback not drawback!

ElvisChrist6 · 09-10-2013 08:54PM

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.

09-10-2013 08:59PM

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 · 09-10-2013 09:22PM

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 · 09-10-2013 09:43PM

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.

cormie · 09-10-2013 11:46PM

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

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.

Check out Loughlinstown Leisure Centre, it's €4.50 per hour per person off peak and they'd probably let you hang on a bit after. An even better court, Shoreline Greystones and only €2.50 phpp. There's a few cheaper courts too, Ballywaltrim in Bray is €25 an hour and it's a pretty reasonable court.

Jake1 wrote: »

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.

Where is that?

09-10-2013 11:54PM

cormie wrote: »

Check out Loughlinstown Leisure Centre, it's €4.50 per hour per person off peak and they'd probably let you hang on a bit after. An even better court, Shoreline Greystones and only €2.50 phpp. There's a few cheaper courts too, Ballywaltrim in Bray is €25 an hour and it's a pretty reasonable court.

Where is that?

Its in Ongar, Dublin 15. Not sure what the school is called actually

, but I can get the name of it tomorrow for you

the groutch · 10-10-2013 02:33AM

Howard Juneau wrote: »

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

had Ed as a basketball coach in school back in the 90s, sound guy.

catbear · 10-10-2013 06:29AM

keeponhurling wrote: »

Does every sport have to be popular in every country ?

Of course not. Outside of Ireland and Irish diaspora groups Hurling is hardly noticed except for extreme sports specials on late night cable channels.

handsome ken · 10-10-2013 08:39AM

I went to the Templeogue v DCU Saints "Premier League" game in the Oblate Hall last Saturday and I have to say it was a great atmosphere and a great game to watch. The hall was packed which really brought me back to days when all halls were full for Div1 games. It was a great advertisement for the game. It was also steamed live on AERTV and the BI website. Have a look at these sites this weekend - I'm sure more games will be streamed on them.

Grand Moff Tarkin · 10-10-2013 09:22AM

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

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

No you can't if anyone is to blame it is the clubs in Dublin who thought that by cutting the American players from down from two to one that they would have a chance of competing with the superpowers of Cork( Neptune, Blue Demons and to an extent North Mon) that was never going to happen and the casual fans were not going to stick around in the one American era.

Add in the building of the Arena in Dublin and the birth of sky sports and weekly soccer and big Jack and the Ireland adventures in two world cups and the rugby bandwagon that is brand Munster Basketball was always going to find it hard to keep the casual fans in the seats. That said as someone who was there in the 80's it was one hell of a ride.

10-10-2013 11:09AM

Originally Posted by Jake1 View Post
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.
Where is that?

Ok, got the name of the school. Its Scoill Grainne community national school, on the Phibblestown road.

phone number : 4529600 for the school, number for community center is 8270378.

at the bottom right of the link below, there is a little bit of info about whats available at the community center

wouldnt let me copy and paste so heres the link

http://www.bap.ie/sites/default/files/dloads/Newsletter%20December%202012.pdf

cormie · 10-10-2013 11:19AM

Thanks Jake!

What Happened Basketball In Ireland

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