Hoop dreams: We need stars the kids can emulate, says Bernard O’Byrne

Irish basketball chief Bernard O’Byrne admits the sport needs some “Irish icons” to help move the game in this country to the next level.

Basketball boasts huge playing numbers underage, and an enviable gender balance, but O’Byrne admits there’s still a lot of progress to be made in the sport in Ireland.

“You must accept some truths, we are never going to surpass soccer and GAA and so you accept what’s impossible and then look at what’s doable. We have the No 1 indoor sport in this country in a climate where you need an indoor sport. We have a fantastic demographic split between male and female (50-50) which no other sport has.

“What we need now is some iconic Irish players, so the younger generation watching the NBA on their tablets can tune into a Jason Killeen or a Kieran Donaghy, and say ‘that’s the guy I want to emulate’.

“It’s little steps, but that would be invaluable. If basketball thinks we can go from Z to A in a short time, we are delusional. My approach has always been a strategy of achieving milestones and then reset your focus.”

The former FAI chief executive has been a leading sports administrator in this country for 12 years, and is pleased with the market share basketball commands in this country. Last week, he announced the FIBA European Women’s Championships for small nations in Cork next summer.

“We have achieved all the milestones we have set out over the last five years. There’s a great enthusiasm for basketball and a lot of good news stories around the domestic game. Bringing the Europeans in 2018 after having the U18 Euros last year keeps the momentum going.”

O’Byrne is conscious too of feeding the appetite for basketball in Cork. “One of the key goals of the Men’s Superleague, for instance, was to get a good regional spread, to get more teams from around the country. The same thought applies to major events, we want to take them outside Dublin if we can. The Arena is our national stadium and certain events have to take place there, but it doesn’t mean that every major event has to stay in the capital. The Mardkye Arena in Cork lends itself to next year’s Small Nations and I didn’t have to ask (our administrative) people twice to convince anyone of the switch from Dublin. Everyone was very enthusiastic about Cork.”

The parlous financial state of Irish basketball forced the governing body to withdraw from international competition in 2009, only returning in 2016. It means that both the men’s and women’s programme are playing catch up again, accepts Irish international Gráinne Dwyer.

“There’s quite a big gap there,” she admitted.

“Looking at the U18 Europeans last year (when Ireland placed a remarkable second), the girls were amazing. But Germany was their biggest test in the final and they blew us out of the water. To go toe to toe at senior level with the top tier nations, you have to firstly look at finances. Games are on a home and away basis, they are midweek, and we all have full-time jobs. For me, it’s an unrealistic comparison unless we can go semi-pro, and we don’t have the finances for that. Before 2009, the girls were really successful, we were going from strength to strength, we have players who had been in the US in college at their peak and that was the time to drive it on. It collapsed then, but we’ve reset our goals now, and in terms of the 2018 Small Countries, we definitely have a chance of winning it.”