Wales 8
Did I tell you about that time Ireland played a game or two?
The long wait is over. The opponents, the locations, and the competitive nature of the games really didn’t matter. The important thing was that Ireland is back on the map, writes Emmet Ryan “Do they play basketball in Ireland?” “Is basketball big in Ireland?” “I didn’t know they had basketball in Ireland.” It’s always friendly, […]
Ireland crawling back to international Basketball
Ireland, still without any adult national teams, took a couple of baby steps back into international basketball this weekend. A pair of emphatic routs gave Irish basketball fans a sweet taste of international ball but after one afternoon normal service resumed. Life without a vanguard returned. Two selections from the Irish Premier League slaughtered Wales […]
EuroBasket Women: A “huge moment” for Turkey against Russia
If there were any doubt that Turkey is experiencing a bona fide golden age of basketball, look no further than the FIBA EuroBasket Women championship match tonight. The unheralded Team Turkey will take on pre-tournament favorites/historically dominant Russia in Lodz tonight. At stake is an automatic bid in the 2012 Olympic Games, but one can’t […]
British Basketball: What they're saying on the eve of The FIBA Decision
If it hadn’t been for all the personality-cult stuff surrounding a certain King James, the fateful FIBA committee vote scheduled for Sunday would more rightly be known as “The Decision”: In Lyons this weekend, the final determination will be made as to whether Team Britain receives for the 2012 London Games the traditionally-granted automatic qualification […]
On streetballing and moving the goalposts: An open letter from Patrick Baumann
With the vote on whether to allow Team Britain automatic entry into the 2012 London Olympic Games set to take place on Sunday in Lyons, FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann has released a statement to media regarding the criteria for this decision-making process. Much of the verbiage is along the lines FIBA suddenly demanded of […]
Interview: Baumann on British basketball
A few days ago, BallinEurope noted some of FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann’s new demands for British Basketball vis-à-vis getting the team into the 2012 Olympic games to be held in London. The folks at Britball Media gave BiE the heads-up yesterday on an interview conducted by MVP, the “UK home for basketball” […]
Baumann of FIBA/IOC levies more demands on British basketball
Despite the fact that Team Britain has managed to qualify for 2010 Eurobasket tournaments on both men’s and women’s sides, FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann has placed yet another condition to be met in exchange for bids at the 2012 Olympic Games. According to today’s Scotsman newspaper via a letter sent from Baumann […]
Team Azerbaijan backs out of FIBA women’s tournament
With an official statement from the host nation’s basketball federation and little more, Team Azerbaijan has been announced as no longer participating in this summer’s European Championship Women Division C. Armenian Basketball Federation president Grachya Rostomyan stated simply that “Azerbaijani basketball team has rejected” the offer to play in the competition. FIBA Europe had informed […]