4 minute read
Basketball Blip
BY JOHN HAGAN
NOW THAT THE TOKYO OLYMPICS ARE IN THE OFFING, WE LOOK FORWARD TO HAILING MORE GOLD MEDALS FROM IRISH ATHLETES SUCH AS, PAT O’CALLAGHAN, BOB TISDALL, RONNIE DELANY, MICHAEL CARRUTH, MARY PETERS, MICHELLE SMITH AND KATIE TAYLOR. UNFORTUNATELY, IN 1948, ONE IRISH TEAM WAS NOT QUITE SO FORTUNATE IN THE ELUSIVE QUEST FOR GOLD.
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In 1948, with nearby London chosen as the site of the Olympics, the Amateur Basketball Association of Ireland (ABAI), only formed in 1945, decided to seize the opportunity to promote and grow their fledgling sport on the international stage. Basketball in Ireland, until that date, had largely been the prerogative of the Irish Army, introduced as an auxiliary exercise for boxing training during the 1920s. As a consequence, the Army’s basketball rules and regulations were significantly different to those internationally accepted. The ball used was described as being ‘a cross between a Gaelic football and a medicine ball’; it was much bigger and heavier than that used by other countries. While international basketball precludes physical contact, the Irish version was intensely physical - more akin to Gaelic played in a confined space. Initially, Army authorities were reluctant to cooperate with ABAI, refusing the Association access to Army players and training facilities in Dublin’s Portobello Barracks on the basis that ‘a team of army players would not be of international standard’, and would be unable to ‘give a performance of sufficiently high standard to bring credit to the country and the army’. Reluctant to take ‘no’ for an answer, ABAI continued pressing the government, and, on 1 July 1948, the Minister for Defence, Dr T F O’Higgins, finally acceded, approving Army involvement. A pool of 22 players was selected from the various army commands to undergo an ‘intensive period of coaching and training’ at Portobello Barracks. Eventually, the 22 was whittled down to 12, most of whom were from Western Command, based at Custume Barracks, Athlone. Only one of the final team, Harry Boland, was added from outside army ranks, making a total of 13 players in the Games contingent. The basketballers, together with the rest of the Irish Olympic competitors, left Dublin’s Westland Row Station on Saturday 24 July 1948, en route for London. They took the train to Dun Laoghaire, boarded the boat to
Holyhead and then caught another train to London’s Euston Station. Unfortunately, there was no dining car on the train so all arrived at their destination tired and hungry. The Irish base for the Games was Willesden Technical College, where the classrooms had been converted to temporary dorms; alas, no custom built athletes village in austere, post-war, Britain. The Olympics started badly for the basketball team as they were unable to parade in the opening ceremony because ABAI couldn’t afford to pay for an official uniform. The Irish Army supplied the playing kit of green singlets and khaki pants, which players were duty bound to return at the end of the Games. Twenty three nations entered the basketball competition staged at Harringay Arena (famous as a boxing venue) between the 30 July and 13 August 1948. Unfortunately, the initial doubts as to the team’s competitiveness were soon realized. The Irish players lacked pace, physique, strength, conditioning and finesse to match it with the other teams. Only two players were over six foot, while the coach, Commandant Donald McCormack, knew very little about the sport, and refused to listen to sensible suggestions from those he outranked. To add to these problems, the bus driver taking the team to their first game lost his way, resulting in the team arriving 20 minutes late
to face their Mexican opponents. Because of the dire situation, team members had to change in the bus and had no opportunity to warm up before they played. This incident was described in a later account written by the Irish Olympic Council, as having a ‘very upsetting effect from which the team never fully recovered’. While hardly breaking a sweat, the Mexicans hammered the Irish 71-9. Similar debacles ensued against all Ireland’s other pool opponents, with Iran winning 49-22, Cuba victorious 88-25, and France dominant 73-14. Two additional grading games were played in which Great Britain overwhelmed Ireland 46-21, with Switzerland also prevailing (55-12) against the hapless Irish. In total, over their six games, Ireland conceded 382 points, scoring only 103 in reply. As a result, the Irish finished 23rd; last amongst international rivals. Despite the Irish Olympic Council’s rather generous claim that the tardy bus arrival was a major contributing factor to the team’s poor showing, there were more obvious, and pertinent, reasons, (previously described), for the catastrophe. It was hoped that the experience gained in 1948 would enable Irish basketball to give a better account of itself in the 1952 Olympics. However, ABAI did not enter a team, and Ireland has never again competed in the final stages of the Olympic basketball competition.
Musical Entertainer / Teacher
David MacConnell
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