History of Basketball

By 1945 Basketball began to grow in popularity in Ireland and the first club was formed in University College Dublin and the first Intervarsity Competition was held in 1946.
1945 also saw the formation of the Amateur Basketball Association of Ireland (ABAI) – What Basketball Ireland was formally known as.
In 1947, the first Area Board, the Dublin County Board was set up and the following year the first Leinster Championships were held.
Irish Basketball affiliated with FIBA in 1947 and basketball became firmly established as a recognised sport in Ireland.
One year later, Ireland sent a Basketball team to the 1948 Olympics which were held in a post war Britain still recovering from the effects of WW2 and there was no qualification system for teams participating - This was the only time in the history of Irish Basketball that we had a representative team at the Olympics.
Irish Basketball celebrated its 50th Anniversary 1997 – and members of the 1948 Olympic squad were present at a reception to honour the founding members of Irish Basketball in the National Basketball Arena.
The first Men’s National Leagues were introduced in 1971/1972.
The Women’s National Leagues began in the 1979/80 season.
The “modern era” of men’s National Leagues began when St. Vincent’s, Killarney introduced the first American professional players in 1979/80.
Irelands premier indoor sports facility and the home of Irish Basketball, the National Basketball Arena, was opened in Tymon Park, Tallaght, Dublin 24 in January 1993.
The name of the association changed from the original ABAI to the Irish Basketball Association (IBA) in 1980.
The IBA, is association with the ESB and the Irish Sports Council, launched the Community Hoops Programme in May 1998. The programme aims to install vandal resistant outdoor hoops in parks, playgrounds, schools, estates and communities across Ireland, providing free and open access to the sport for everyone - player and non-player alike. The first hoop was installed beside Ballymun Community School, is still standing and provides players in the area with a safe, open and free area to practice their sport. To date over 200 hoops have been installed in various locations across the Country.
As of 2005, the Community Hoops Programme is sponsored by 7UP.
In August 2001, for the first time in history, the Irish Senior men qualified to the semi-final round of the 2003 European Championships.
In 2003, The IBA was restructured and re-branded to Basketball Ireland (BI) for the improvement and development of the sport in Ireland.
Basketball Ireland (BI) is the National Governing Body for Basketball in Ireland
The Association has responsibility for the promotion, development and administration of all basketball activities in Ireland and Northern Ireland
The primary focus of Basketball Ireland is to increase the participation levels of basketball throughout Ireland and to provide professionally managed courses, competitions, leagues and services to the basketball public
BI has a professional staff of ten. The Board of Basketball Ireland, comprised of voluntary members, governs overall policy.
Basketball is the third largest sport in Ireland in participation terms with currently over 180,000 people actively playing basketball in Ireland.
Numbers playing have increased from 120,000 since 1999
Almost 300 clubs cater for basketball players around the country, with approximately 1,200 teams participating in local competitions at a variety of levels
Basketball is the second most popular physical activity after soccer among the 12-18 age group
45,000 young people playing on 2,080 teams across 520 schools
90,000 primary school kids playing in 3,000 schools – 48% boys: 52% girls
500 registered coaches
The showcase league is the SuperLeague
The National Cup is the premier event in Irish Basketball. Over 100 teams participated at Senior and Junior level in the 2004/2005 Cup with over 10,000 fans attending the Finals weekend.
8 National teams compete at European Championships - U16, U18, U20 & Senior Level, both men and women