Green shoots starting to appear

BASKETBALL IRELAND chief executive Bernard O’Byrne is hopeful that the majority of the country’s international representative teams will be back on court by 2014.

The organisation made headlines for all the wrong reasons when it pulled the plug on its entire international programme in February of last year in response to a financial crisis which had left it saddled with debts of €1.2m.

The decision was particularly hard on the senior women’s squad which had missed out narrowly on promotion to Europe’s ‘A’ division the season before and whose members pleaded unsuccessfully to fund their own way through the next year’s calendar.

Basketball Ireland have already reintroduced two U16 teams into the international arena – thanks mainly to assistance from the players’ parents – and, though far from ideal in the long run, O’Byrne is confident of building on that.

“Our next priority will be to try and reintroduce the women’s national team,” said the former FAI chief executive, “and I would hope that within a period of maybe three years that our international programme will be substantially reinstated.

“If you are trying to attract young kids into the game they need to see a pathway. They need to see if they stick with it in training and put a bit of effort in, there is a possibility they can wear the green jersey of Ireland.

“It is hugely regrettable that it happened but I think it was the right thing to do in the financial climate. It comes back to commercial activity and we need to have the funds and an international programme is hugely expensive but we want it back 100%.”

O’Byrne has only been in the role himself since March and has no previous experience in the game but does bring ample experience from his time in soccer’s administration circles and a background that also includes golf, Pitch & Putt and GAA.

Part of the problem with basketball before the ‘crash’ was its attempt to run before it could walk but there are signs that the sport is beginning to find its feet again as it faces into the new domestic Superleague season, starting this weekend.

Finance remains the be all and end all, and there has been some good news in that regard with Nivea extending its sponsorship from the men’s Superleague to the female equivalent and six new sponsors on board.

“Our focus is to try and increase our profile but it does all come back to finance,” said O’Byrne. “To do that you have to put money into marketing and put money into media coverage sometimes. We have a plan put together to focus on participation.

“The way to grow it is to grow from the bottom up. The participation levels that we have in schools is completely unrecognised, and maybe unorganised to a certain degree, so we are going to roll out a primary school programme in the coming season.

“We are going to add additional regional competitions for secondary schools and then we are also going to try and help the Superleagues, both men and women.

“They will have a remit to look at the marketing of their own game, to increase attendances. Everything doesn’t and maybe shouldn’t be based from Basketball Ireland HQ. It is the individuals within the game that should have a plan and we should support them.”