O’Byrne eyes super new era for league

Basketball Ireland chief Bernard O’Byrne is confident the sport will grow and prosper at all levels in the coming years.

O’Byrne was speaking at the launch of the 2012/2013 domestic season in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght yesterday.

The National League begins tomorrow with a Dublin derby in the Men’s SuperLeague between new team, Dublin Inter, and DCU at the arena.

“We’re starting in a very positive mode,” stated O’Byrne. “We’re welcoming a new team in Dublin Inter, which is based in the Lithuanian community but includes other players. They’re going to bring a lot of colour, noise and good skill. I think that will be a great addition. They are also going to play their home matches in the arena, which means there will be a SuperLeague game here every two weeks.

“That provides us with a platform to get the word out in the south-west Dublin area that Friday night is basketball night and hopefully we can build on that. Otherwise around the game, we’re seeing increasing numbers of teams within clubs and indeed some youth clubs around the country as well.”

Dublin Inter’s registration comes as a result of being specifically targeted, with a Lithuanian representative team playing the league winners in the past two years.

“We were saying if you’re interested in basketball, we want you in our organisation. I think these are good steps and really, regardless of culture or background, anybody that’s interested in basketball, we’re interested in them.”

This offsets the loss of Belfast Star in some way, but with no team up north, the majority of the action is taking place in Dublin and Cork, with one team each in Limerick and Galway. O’Byrne agrees this is a situation that must be addressed and says Basketball Ireland and the SuperLeague will be proactive in this regard.

“Our strategic plan tells us that in 2014, we want 12 SuperLeague teams in the men’s division. Certainly, the thinking would be we should have a SuperLeague team in Kerry, we should have at least one in Ulster and perhaps one in the midlands somewhere.

“That work has started. It can’t happen overnight but we have begun to make the first steps. The general plan is to look across the board and see what is needed to do this.”

A three-year TV deal with Setanta that will include the production of monthly magazine programme to help increase the profile of the sport.

In addition to that, a Men’s SuperLeague selection has been invited to play in front of 6,000 people in the curtain-raiser to the English Cup final in Birmingham next January. This is “a unique window” of opportunity for players and the league to showcase their talents, with highlights to be broadcast on Sky Sports.

More is needed, though, and officials are investigating what resources they can muster to help clubs develop academies so that they can bring talented Irish players through, while also in a position to recruit marquee players.

“There has to be a conveyor belt. The SuperLeague teams can’t just appear out of nothing. There’s huge numbers playing at underage level. There’s huge interest in basketball. One of the challenges for us is to try and reduce the fall-off that happens at age 17 and 18. We’ve got to keep those young people still involved in basketball. How we manage to do all that needs to be decided now... a two-year plan. The Business Planning Group will have its first meeting in three weeks’ time. We’ll need to sort out the specifics and see what we can do collectively — Basketball Ireland and the SuperLeague clubs — and see how we can work together to do that.”