A Sporting Organisation to rival the FAI?

1

At times like this you have to appreciate how well run the GAA is in comparison to these other shambolic organisations.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0224/1224265091401.html
Basketball Ireland pull plug on international sides
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KEITH DUGGAN Reports

BASKETBALL IRELAND has taken the decision to deactivate its senior men’s and women’s international teams indefinitely due to a severe financial crisis. The decision was made after it became apparent the body has accumulated debts of €1.2 million.

But it has worked out a strategy for survival with the Sports Council.

The development is particularly galling to the Irish women’s team, which narrowly missed out on promotion to the A division in Europe last season and whose members had lobbied Basketball Ireland to allow them to fund their own way through this year’s competition.

“This is a financial rather than philosophical decision,” said Paul Meany, the executive chairman of Basketball Ireland, yesterday.

The Dublin-based school principal is well-known in Irish basketball circles and was asked to return to administrate the sport after it became clear Basketball Ireland had fallen into a terrible financial hole.

“We have had to cut back in every possible way or we face the scenario of Basketball Ireland collapsing,” he said. “This time last year we had 27 staff. Now we have 11. I am here in a voluntary capacity. FIBA have been very understanding about this and have given us a measure of support.

“We have always had a hand-to-mouth existence here, but a combination of bad financial information and maybe trying to develop the sport more quickly than was feasible has left us with no choice but to make these decisions.”

News of the withdrawals came abruptly to the women’s team. The seeding for the next European competitions was announced at Christmas, and Anne Diffney, the Irish team manager, was not alone in noticing that there was no mention of Ireland.

She was informed then by Basketball Ireland that there was a possibility the national teams might be withdrawn.

“There was a late entry date of January 16th, which we begged Basketball Ireland to go for,” she said. “If we ended up not entering, the fine would have been €2,500. But if you are €1.4 million in debt, what difference does that make? And we – the women’s team – would have been prepared to pay the fine anyway.

“We felt FIBA would have looked favourably on our case because we are a small nation, we did well in the last competition and there are only nine countries in our division: we would have balanced it up. But we were not given the option of raising the money so we are out in the cold.”

Diffney believes that women’s team was the best ever. Led by Susan Moran, the Tullamore woman who is now an assistant coach at St Joseph’s, the Pennsylvania college where she had a glittering playing career, the Irish team had been pushing hard for a place in the A grade in Europe.

They have a reserve of well-known senior Irish players, such as Michelle Fahy, Lindsey Pete, Michelle Aspel and Niamh Dwyer, all dominant figures in national league fixtures for years, as well as highly-gifted young players like Claire Rockall coming up through their ranks.

They missed out on qualification by a single point, finishing third on 16 points behind Holland. They beat the Dutch in the National Arena and lost narrowly away. They lost to Montenegro – who topped the group – by just three points in Dublin. They beat Slovenia and Switzerland home and away. The game that cost them qualification was a narrow away loss to Iceland.

The Dutch team, against whom they were chasing second spot, is funded to the tune of €1 million. The Irish team budget for the last qualifying campaign was €48,000.

“We ran it on a shoestring. But we did believe we could raise a similar sum,” Diffney said.

“Susan has contacts in the States and she felt she could have raised funding. We would have had contributions here at home. I know the ‘promise’ of money is easy, but we have got a lot of texts from people promising to fund-raise. None of the girls would have minded contributing themselves.

“When you travel, the host country accommodates you. But we always flew the cheapest airlines and the cheapest routes at odd hours. Home and away each Wednesday and Saturday for four weeks, and it takes its toll.

“The girls got no petrol money or training expenses, we paid for our own stuff as we went from here to there. If we could avoid staying in hotels at all, we would do.

“Basketball Ireland did the best they could in difficult circumstances. But the girls made huge sacrifices to play for Ireland, which is why this is so devastating for them.”

Meany is sympathetic to the Irish team’s perspective, but pointed out that the promise of money is very different to actual funding.

The underage teams will continue in European competition, but they have always been entirely self-funded.

He is hopeful Basketball Ireland will be in a position to restore the international teams in time for the next series of European competitions in 2012.

But for now, the Irish teams are in limbo and it remains to be seen whether players like Moran have played their last international game.

2

Full houses in Croke Park in September shouldnt cover the fact that the GAA is in meltdown.

Hurling - KK and Tipp ridiculously far ahead of the rest. Hurling will soon only be played seriously by about 6 or 7 teams at inter county level. The standard of inter county Gaelic football is pretty diabolical imo.

Club level which of course the mongs in Croke Park and on every County board dont realise is the lifeblood of the GAA. But players need regular games to stay interested. Clubs waiting between 6 weeks for games in the middle of summer is not sustainable. Young people have far more choice these days and more and more will stray away from the club game. Not to mention other external factors like rural depopulation, mass emigration etc

Save me the nauseating GAA backclapping.

Basketball though should be a brilliant Winter sport in Ireland. Played it myself when young and loved it.

3

Funny how you none of you GAA marks posted this story


Time for change, says Delaney

By Martin Breheny

Thursday February 25 2010

BANKRUPT county boards accompanied by club players revolting in frustration is the grim scenario predicted by Leinster Council chief executive Michael Delaney in an early-season assessment which will shock the GAA world.

And, in a hard-hitting response to the problems, he proposes a serious overhaul of the inter-county scene as the only means of preventing a major crisis.

Delaney gave a broad outline of his concerns in his annual report and yesterday went into extensive detail on the measures which he regards as crucial in building a healthy future.

They include scrapping the All-Ireland qualifiers plus the All-Ireland junior (football) and intermediate (hurling) championships, dropping National Leagues for weaker hurling counties and all shield and special competitions.

He even questions the value of the All-Ireland U-21 championships, but accepts that it would be virtually impossible to convince counties to scrap them.

ailing

He would also favour taking the humane killer to the ailing inter-provincials, but said that since their future was currently being examined at the highest level, he would await the outcome of those findings.

“Mind you, I think everybody knows where I stand on the inter-provincials,” said Delaney, who has previously recommended their abolition.

His blueprint also includes leaving May free of senior championship activity and finishing the All-Ireland senior hurling and football championships by the end of August, three weeks earlier than at present.

“It’s as simple as this. Unless we do something quickly for club players, we’ll have a revolution on our hands. It’s a feeling I have been getting for quite some time and, if anything, the situation is becoming more serious. It’s all very fine saying that club players get 15 to 20 games a year, but, in many cases, they can go months without any games and then face a fixtures glut over a short period. There’s a serious level of anger out there among club players,” he said.

He believes that a multiplicity of inter-county competitions, spread out over a long period, are making unreasonable demands on scarce finances, leaving many county boards facing major problems.

“The financial pot is getting smaller. It’s more difficult to find sponsors and, even then, they’re paying less than before. Race days and golf classics were always great fund-raisers, but they’re being hit too. Gate receipts held up well last year, certainly in Leinster, but we can’t be complacent. We’re always conscious that we need Dublin footballers to do well to keep our numbers up,” he said.

Delaney’s proposal that the All-Ireland football qualifiers be scrapped completely and that hurling be altered significantly will prove controversial, but he believes it would be of major benefit to the clubs, while restoring the provincial championships to their original stature.

"The football qualifiers were exciting in the early years because they were new. But we’ve now had nearly 10 years of them and it’s clear that they benefit the stronger counties most.

"In many cases, all it means is that many counties are beaten twice instead of once. Meanwhile, it costs county boards a lot of money to keep teams in training, while club fixtures are also badly hit.

"It’s also the case that the attendances at many of the early-round qualifiers are quite small, which shows what the public thinks of them. I’d favour returning to the original system where it was winner-take-all in the provinces and, if you were beaten, that was the end of it.

“In that situation, we could wait until June to start the senior championships and finish them off by the end of August. That would benefit the clubs, save counties money and, in my view, make the championships more exciting.”

Scrapping the qualifiers would end fairytale stories where weaker counties made progress through the ‘back door’, but Delaney argues that it doesn’t happen often enough to merit building a whole structure around it.

“It was great to see Wicklow do so well in the qualifiers last year. Fermanagh reached the semi-finals in 2004 on the qualifier route and there have been a few other examples of counties with no great championship tradition making some progress, but, in the main, it’s the strong counties who benefit most,” he said.

In hurling, he would favour allowing only the beaten Leinster and Munster finalists back into the championship. They would play the champions from those provinces in cross-over All-Ireland semi-finals, ie Munster champions v Leinster runners-up; Leinster champions v Munster runners-up.

Asked if he thought that that reducing senior championship action and confining it to three months in summer would be dangerous in terms of reducing the GAA’s national media profile, he said it might be a risk worth taking.

“I talk to a lot of club players and the one thing that’s really annoying them is the lack of a proper fixtures schedule. It’s the clubs who provide the county players, but they’re being ignored in the rush to have so much inter-county action. This is a really serious situation,” said Delaney.

He believes that it makes little sense to have a league for weaker hurling teams, followed by the Rackard/ Meagher Cup competitions, which give teams second chances. He would prefer an integrated system which would cut down on costs and leave more time for club activity.

“We need to tighten up the season,” he said. “We need most of May to be left for club games and then give clubs a clear run from the first of September. What’s happening at present benefits nobody, least of all the club players who are left totally frustrated.”

  • Martin Breheny

Irish Independent

4

The reason no one posted the story Woody can be summed up in two words - Martin and Breheny.

5

Basketball is in meltdown in Australia as well MBB, just as shambolic.

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the funny thing that the bigots on here seem to overlook is that the GGA is in decline in terms of playing numbers & is now copying the FAI youth development structures- UEFA has recognised the success the FAI have had in terms of playing numbers too

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I feel like an archaeologist when I switch on my TV and see a GGA match on. It’s like looking back on a time long forgotten.

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5 replies and not one referring to the shambolic state of Irish Basketball. The chips on shoulders on people on here with regards to a hugely successful and profitable organisation like the GAA is laughable in the extreme.

CLG abĂș.

9

Ok MBB, here you go.

Disappointed to hear this news, a know a girl playing with Ireland and also a girl working for Basketball Ireland (or at least she used to), they put serious dedication into the sport and it must be crushing for them for things to go like this. That said, basketball holds zero appeal to me.

10

Basketball is big enough in UL. Every lad I know who played was an utter spastic. Wearing baggy pants, baseball caps etc. Wiggers the lot of em.

The girls were alright sorts though. Knew a few who were/are in around the Irish team so I’d feel sorry for them.

In summary male basketball players cunts. Female basketball players alright sorts.

11

Knew a few of them down there too, and would concur with the male female divide on this. Very sad to see that an organisation like this fails its members so blatantly and pathetically.

Runt doesnt the great John G play some ball?

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He does and gets 500 lids a week (supposedly) for his troubles

13

I would echo those sentiments.

John Galvin still plays the b-ball alright. He left at half time in the NFL game against Longford to go play basketball down in Kerry.

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An alright sort is John. Was speaking to a friend into the BBall and she was telling me that this Irish side was really one of the best they ever had and would have pushed hard on the top tier. Sad to see.

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I think this sentence sums it up:

The Dutch team, against whom they were chasing second spot, is funded to the tune of €1 million. The Irish team budget for the last qualifying campaign was €48,000.

Doing very well to be competitive when they are so badly funded.

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Its mentioned up above about the timetables the team kept to keep prices down, I heard there were some ridiculous flights, including stopvers etc to keep prices down. A fucking out and out joke of an organisation.

17

I will fight every GGA fan in the country at the same time.

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Is there a bit of cash floating around the players at the likes of DART Killester etc? And do they have expensive foreign imports?

I suppose like most other sports in Ireland they just don’t have attendances to sustain anything other than funding from grants. The crowds in the Neptune are long gone.

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The only 2 fans of GGA I know of are yourself and NCC, and he is already booked up with fights.

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If you mean GAA fans, Kev is booking slots at the moment, dont miss out. Get through him first, then we’ll see about the rest.