What do the basketball heads make of the Irish Team and its near qualification for the Euro's. I'm a little torn myself! Although its great to see us get so far, it is not really an Irish Team, with only 3 of the team being born in Ireland and only 2 growing up here! Must say very happy for the coaches,3 men who put a lot into the game.
It will all be worth while in my view if it increases the profile of the game here, I suppose a live Ball game on tv of a saturday is great, but will it have a lasting effect?
Would it be better to reward real Irish players with caps?
Is this where all the money that clubs now have to pay the IBA to register is going? What do ye think?
I guess you could look at the football team in the late 80's early 90's
It found a lot of success with mostly players with irish grandparents and some with no connections at all [Casc] and I imagine a lot of todays irish team are made up of kids who grew up at that time and were caught up in the excitement of world cups o'shea,carr,finnan,r eid,duff & robbie keane
If the BBalll team progress to a higher level in Europe and get more recognition maybe more people will take an interest and take up the game and you'll find more people reaching the standard needed and possibly heading to college in America which is the minimum needed really to play at international level I reckon
so basically if there are any knock on effects from this sucess, you may not see it for 10 years
It is great to see basketball on Irish TV, but at the same time I feel no connection at all to that team. Maybe it'll help the profile of basketball, but judging by the crowd at the game I think even that is a while away.
I find it hard to defend sinking money into that team when some of the facilities around the place are so poor. The hall has come on a bit, but its still crap. If we want to retain players in basketball and not lose them to the three big associations when they hit 15/16 we have to give them a reason to stay with the game, and personally I think that good competition and decent places to play are more likely to retain players than a bunch of Irish-Americans in green jerseys.
I watched the game but personally didn't care whether that team won or lost..Have to agree with Coin re money being pumped into that team and the lack of facilities around the place..How many outdoor courts etc can you think of to go for a scrimmage during summer months etc?....If the whole thing raises the profile of the game and gets more kids wanting to play then fair enough but i can't go cheering for some guy called Jay Laranaga or Chris Bracey...Can anyone tell me how da f**k he's on the Irish team btw?
.How many outdoor courts etc can you think of to go for a scrimmage during summer months etc?...btw?
not a basketball fan by anymeans but there used to be a few courts down the way from me in a school..easily accessable.. not major gates etc... and during the summer, they'd take the hoops away... twas crazy...
Can anyone tell me how da f**k he's on the Irish team btw?
His Grandad once had a drink in an Irish pub.
Thanks to the ESB, if you live in the right small town there is the odd court dotted around the place. There's the one in Skib next to the new(ish) gym and one in Monkstown. There are some places though where it's ludicrous that there isn't one. Fitzgeralds park for one.
Irish Basketbal Team
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