FIBA ranking Nickname(s) The Green Army Appearances None Coach Pete Strickland Joined FIBA 1947 | FIBA zone FIBA Europe Appearances 1 (1948) Appearances None Location Republic of Ireland National federation Basketball Ireland | |
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The Ireland men's national basketball team represents the island of Ireland. It is organised by Basketball Ireland with players from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland play their home matches at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, Dublin. The team has yet to qualify for the final stages of EuroBasket or the FIBA World Championship.
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History
The Amateur Basketball Association of Ireland (ABAI; now Basketball Ireland) was formed in 1945 and affiliated to FIBA in 1947. An indoor version of basketball had been played in the Irish Army from 1936, but using non-standard rules to create an indoor winter substitute for Gaelic football; until 1943, the Army Athletic Council officially recognised only Gaelic games. The ABAI sent a team of the best Army players to the 1948 Olympic tournament in nearby London, despite the refusal of Army command to release the players for intensive training. The team coaches were officers unfamiliar with the sport, who outranked the players and ignored their advice. Although many top sides were absent from the London Games in the aftermath of World War II, the Irish team finished last, losing every match heavily; the worst a 71–9 loss to Mexico, who finished fourth. Only two members of the team were over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall.
The team's standard improved gradually from the 1970s to the 2000s, as more school leavers won scholarships to play US college basketball, and some Irish American professional players took up eligibility to compete for their ancestral country. Ireland entered European-zone Olympic qualification tournaments in 1972, 1976, 1984, and 1988, losing every match each time. In 1988, Ireland finished runner-up in the inaugural Promotion Cup, the third tier of EuroBasket, later named EuroBasket Division C, and now the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries. In 1993, the National Basketball Arena opened in Dublin, which became the team's new permanent home. Division C was hosted there the following year, and Ireland beat Cyprus 81–78 in the final to gain promotion to EuroBasket Division B. Ireland narrowly failed to win promotion to Division A in FIBA EuroBasket 2005 Division B, losing to Denmark by 4 points after having won the first game in Dublin by 10 points.
In February 2010, during the Irish financial crisis, Basketball Ireland announced that it was €1.2m in debt and was deactivating its senior international squads to cut costs. In December 2015, the team was reactivated for 2016.
In December 2015, it was announced that the men's national team would play at the 2016 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries.
EuroBasket 2009 Qualifying campaign
Head coach position
Notable players
Honours
Manufacturer
2016: Macron