BASKETBALL:ALTHOUGH THE Irish basketball season does not begin until the autumn, the exclusion of St Paul's of Killarney from the new Superleague schedule has led to deep rumbles of discontent in the Kerry town.

Senior football team manager Pat O'Shea, a past player and chairman with the club, is among those to have expressed disappointment at the decision taken not to grant Killarney a Superleague licence after the club failed to send representatives to what would have been a third presentation meeting.

The decision means the new Superleague will have a reduced roster of just 10 teams. In addition to Killarney's failure to meet the criteria, Ballina will not be able to field a team at the elite level, a scenario that arguably weakens the profile of basketball along the western seaboard. It also takes away the Tralee-Killarney rivalry for the coming season.

"This is a disaster for us," said Eamonn Keogh of Killarney this week. "We have a new 800-seater arena here in the town and have good young players coming through, but without our participation in Superleague that interest can fall away quickly.

"A lot of people are wondering why we can't get back in. We missed one meeting and we shouldn't have done. But the feeling is that the punishment far outweighs the crime.

"The licensing process was a new departure for everyone and we made a mistake. It was just a combination of . . . reasons that we were not able to make it and all we want is a chance to make our last presentation."

On the face of it, cutting an established club from the Superleague for failure to attend a meeting may seem like officialdom gone mad. But the idea behind the licensing process is fundamentally sound: it places the onus on clubs to ensure they can stand the financial rigours of a season and demonstrate their plans to develop the game at underage level.

Basketball has always struggled to gain mainstream media profile in Ireland and it is therefore often overlooked that the association is ambitious and expansionist in terms of the goals it sets for clubs.

Too often, teams have pulled out at the last minute because of the burden of costs and organisation. The intention this time is to ensure all Superleague entrants operate from a sound platform.

The rejection of St Paul's means a major row is brewing between one of Ireland's traditional basketball strongholds and the parent body of the association. But it is not simply a matter of Basketball Ireland reversing its decision.

"For one thing, the Superleague Men's Board made the decision and there are three representatives from the clubs on this," points out Basketball Ireland's commercial director, Karl Donnelly.

"So people are not getting the fact that this is not just Basketball Ireland coming down heavy. Killarney knew well enough when they had to make their submission. This is regrettable. But I feel if they put the amount of energy they put in over the last few weeks to protesting this into the initial process, they would have passed with flying colours.

"In the past, we had scenarios where teams pulled out a fortnight before the league began. So we gave clubs templates of business plans and financial spread-sheets to help them put together a presentation for the Superleague.

"We needed to establish a basic standard. You are better off with 10 strong units than 12 weak entities. And there is a history of teams leaving the league and coming back much stronger.

"So the Superleague Men's Board would like Killarney to show their commitment by playing division one this year and then applying next year. There's a lot of bad feeling from Killarney but you have to look at the bigger picture."

The basic process was that Superleague applicants had three chances to gain sufficient points through presentations made before the SLMB. Killarney were due to present for the third time when they failed to appear. Their appeal was rejected.

Although their plight is generally regarded with sympathy, it is hard to foresee a reversal.

The prospect of playing the lower national level of division one is not one Killarney hoop fans will find enticing.

"We have no intention of doing that," says Keogh. "We have good young players coming through and a brand new facility and if there is no Superleague team, that interest can fall away. I know it sounds crazy but we can compete better at that level because we have no big Irish guys to play well at division one level.

"Terry O'Brien from Tralee and Kieran Donaghy have come out and said that the loss of the Kerry derby would be a huge loss to Irish basketball.

"We are hopeful this can be resolved. We aren't going to sit back and accept this. And I do feel we have support in the other clubs. Maybe we should go and get a letter from each club but I do feel we have that. No one has told us we deserve to be kicked out."

The one thing on Killarney's side is time. But Basketball Ireland runs it ship in a manner that could provide a model for bigger sporting bodies and the official line is that the Superleague table has been settled.