Superleague (Ireland)
Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 Irish Super League season
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1973 |
| Inaugural season | 1973–74 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Countries |
Republic of Ireland (11 teams) Northern Ireland (1 team) |
| Continent | Europe |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Templeogue (1st title) |
| Most titles | Neptune (11 titles) |
| Relegation to | National League Division 1 |
| Official website | Basketball Ireland |
The Super League (formerly known as SuperLeague and Premier League) is the top tier men's basketball league in Ireland. The league has 12 teams (11 in the Republic of Ireland and 1 in Northern Ireland), and is an active member of Basketball Ireland, which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in Ireland. Neptune hold the record for most league titles, having won the competition 11 times.
In 1973, the Irish Basketball Association established a national basketball competition for men with two divisions. This saw many Dublin-based clubs enter their Men's A team into the top flight league, with the likes of Killester, St. Vincent's Dublin and Marian competing for supremacy against Cork-based clubs Blue Demons and Neptune. The league stumbled through its first six seasons before Kerry-born Killarney player Paudie O'Connor felt it was time for a higher quality Irish league. Having played for the Irish national team, he knew that Irish basketball was short of quality. By the late 1970s, O'Connor felt that the Irish game was not at a high enough standard, locally or nationally. So, in the winter of 1979, O'Connor persuaded two Americans, Cornel Bedford and Greg Huguley, to join him in Killarney. The pair immediately made their presence felt, bringing a new flair to the team and the league. O'Connor knew he was on to something, but even he couldn't have envisaged how his bold move would transform the Irish game. The IBA brought in regulations to limit the number of foreign-born players to two and thus prevent the full professionalisation of the league, as had happened in Britain.
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