27 September 2022
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
“Ballincollig Tradehouse Central” changes name to “Emporium Cork Basketball”
Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced a major change ahead of the start of the upcoming basketball season as they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball, with the team firmly set on becoming the home of basketball for Southsiders in the city.
The name is as a result of a long-standing partnership with The Emporium Company, who are the parent company owners of Tradehouse Central in Ballincollig. In addition to this, they are the proprietors of the Castle Inn in Glanmire, JJ Coppinger’s in Midleton and Mabel Lane on the Main Street in Carrigaline, the most recent addition to their family of establishments.
Ballincollig Basketball Club’s diverse membership has grown in recent times from under 400 to over 650 people, with 58% of these male, and 42% of these female.
This growth is in line with increased participation and interest in basketball nationally as Basketball Ireland have seen memberships increase by 48% in the last number of years as considerable interest in the NBA league has seen the popularity of the sport soar across Ireland.
Historically in Cork, players who wanted to play Super League basketball felt they had to move to clubs on the North side of the city to play at the highest level.
Pictured at their facilities in Ballincollig Community School was, left/right, Jose Alberto Jimenez Gonzalez, Luke OÕSullivan, John Dawson and Keelan Cairns, as Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball.
Photo: Cathal Noonan
Pictured at their facilities in Ballincollig Community School was, left/right, Jose Alberto Jimenez Gonzalez, Luke OÕSullivan, John Dawson and Keelan Cairns, as Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball.
Photo: Cathal Noonan
Pictured at their facilities in Ballincollig Community School was, left/right, Jose Alberto Jimenez Gonzalez, John Dawson, Luke OÕSullivan and Keelan Cairns, as Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball.
Photo: Cathal Noonan
Pictured at their facilities in Ballincollig Community School was, left/right, Jose Alberto Jimenez Gonzalez, John Dawson, Luke OÕSullivan and Keelan Cairns, as Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball.
Photo: Cathal Noonan
Pictured at their facilities in Ballincollig Community School was, left/right, Luke OÕSullivan, Jose Alberto Jimenez Gonzalez, Keelan Cairns and John Dawson, as Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball.
Photo: Cathal Noonan
Pictured at their facilities in Ballincollig Community School was, left/right, Luke O’Sullivan, John Dawson, Jose Alberto Jimenez Gonzalez and Keelan Cairns, as Ballincollig Tradehouse Central have announced they will now be referred to as Emporium Cork Basketball.
Photo: Cathal Noonan
However, five years ago, Emporium Cork Basketball gave players on the south side of the city the chance to play top level basketball – whilst staying with their childhood club when they made the decision to move from local league to National League.
The ethos of the team is to be backboned by local players and add two pros to be competitive. Last season, the team’s impressive record saw them at 15 wins, with just one loss, which saw them crowned Southern Conference champions.
Ahead of their upcoming season opener against Moycullen Club, Captain Adrian O’Sullivan said that the club was fully focussed on the further growth and development of the club and the name change to Emporium Cork Basketball was representative of this.
“We are delighted to be playing under the new name of Emporium Cork Basketball this season. We have big ambitions this year and partnering with The Emporium Company and this will enable us to bring Super League basketball to the suburbs of Cork. The standard of basketball being played in Cork is now higher than it has ever been, even during the heydays. We are excited to get more people enjoying the sport that we love”.
“This will be significant for us as the club and the popularity of the sport continues to grow in Cork and beyond, a regular problem last year was that we needed to turn people away from the door of Ballincollig Community School when they wanted to come and watch games. Basketball Ireland have also invested in our sport, and online streaming from the basketballireland.tv platform is going to increase the reach of all of games making it more available for spectators and sponsors.”
“For us this year, the season is all about growth. This renaming comes at a critical time for us and solidifies our intentions for growth and expansion. We are striving for an even better season than last years. Our opening game of the season takes place on 1st October at Ballincollig Community School, and we are excited to get our first competitive season as Emporium Cork Basketball underway,”
For further information on Emporium Cork Basketball and Ballincollig Basketball see https://ballincolligbasketball.ie/