No spectators permitted at FIBA Euros in Dublin

Sport Ireland issue notification

Basketball Ireland has been notified by Sport Ireland that no spectators will be permitted to attend the upcoming FIBA European Championship for Small Countries, which are taking place at the National Basketball Arena from August 10th-15th.

Every game from the tournament will be streamed live on FIBA’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed here.

Basketball Ireland head coach, Mark Keenan, said: “I know Basketball Ireland put in a lot of hard work to state our case to have spectators. Naturally this is very disappointing news and doesn’t make any sense to me, especially when indoor dining and going to the cinema is allowed. Having said this, all the players and coaching staff are fully focused on our preparations as we want to be in the best possible shape for our opening game against Andorra on August 10th. We know the Irish basketball community and all our families and friends will fully get behind the team online and hopefully tune in to support all our games which will be broadcasted on live stream.”

Basketball Ireland Senior Technical Officer, Matt Hall added: “We have been working hard in the background with Sport Ireland to see if we could facilitate basketball fans, but unfortunately we’re not able to on this occasion, due to the current public health guidelines. Sport Ireland have been hugely supportive of the tournament, helping ensure it was able to take place and we’re hugely grateful for that.”

Hosts Ireland will face Andorra in their opening fixture of the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries on August 10th at 7pm. The first game of the tournament will see Malta play San Marino at 4pm.

Ireland’s schedule in the round robin tournament sees them take on San Marino on August 12th, followed by fixtures against Gibraltar on August 14th and concluding against Malta on August 15th.

Ireland senior men’s squad:

CJ Fulton (Lafayette College), Ciaran Roe (Pyrobel Killester), Kyle Hosford (UCC Demons) (VC), Sean Flood (Unsigned), Lorcan Murphy (Griffith College Templeogue), Neil Randolph (Griffith College Templeogue), Adrian O’Sullivan (Aquimisa Carbajosa), Jordan Blount (Unsigned), Eoin Quigley (Tralee Warriors), Will Hanley (Unsigned), John Carroll (Albacete), Jason Killeen (Griffith College Templeogue) (C)

Ireland squad reserves:

Isaac Westbrooks (Pyrobel Killester), Aidan Quinn (Belfast Star), Stephen James (Griffith College Templeogue), James Gormley (Griffith College Templeogue)