Portlaoise Panthers Basketball Club have become a victim of their own success in recent times.
The club’s Women’s achieved historic success last year when they won the Division 1 title and secured promotion to the Super League – the top tier of women’s basketball in Ireland.
Now, one year later, the men’s team are looking to replicate that feat as they too have promotion in their sights.
Jack Scully’s side had a fantastic weekend, beating Dublin Lions to secure a home quarter-final for the Division 1 playoffs.
But the game was marred by controversy, as the club were forced to evacuate all spectators from the hall before the game had reached half time.
Speaking with LaoisToday, Head Coach Jack Scully explained the situation:
“There was so many people in the hall that condensation started to build up with the metal beams and metal roof; condensation started to come down onto the floor, and players were slipping.
“It’s the second time this year that it’s happened. The first time, games were totally called off.
“We had to remove over 400 spectators from the hall so the game could finish.
“We had pushed and promoted the game all week to get people in – and we did.
“We had people travelling from all over the Midlands to come and watch these games, and for me to go onto microphone in the middle of the second quarter and have to ask them to leave was absolutely devastating.
“It was an important game on Saturday night; we were second going into the game and the team ahead of us had lost, so if we had lost our game we would have lost opportunity to go back top of the table because our facility is not up to scratch.”
This is by no means a new problem for Portlaoise Panthers and has proven to be a complicated issue to remedy.
“For years, we were looking for a Greenfields site from Laois County Council to build our own hall,” Scully said.
“They refused to give it to us and said other things took priority.
“Last year, the parish handed St Mary’s Hall over to the Council on a long-term lease and a new Hall Committee was set up.
“The Hall was then handed over to the new committee on a short-term basis; so technically, the County Council are landlords of St Mary’s Hall and the committee are tenants.”
The club’s remarkable form in recent years has seen this problem come to the fore.
“The main issue with St Mary’s Hall is that it was built 50 years ago and there was very little infrastructural work done on it in the last twenty years,” Scully said.
“There has been issues with leaks in the hall for as long as I can remember and the condensation has been a big issue on big game days over the years.
“We didn’t have too many big days in the past, but now, with the success of the club and the crowds we’re attracting to the hall, the condensation is becoming a massive issue.
“We’re bringing teams from all over Ireland to St Mary’s Hall and we have really nailed down the Saturday night crowd as the place to go in Portlaoise.
“Speaking as a National League and Super League coach, we have games every Saturday night and I’m going into them not knowing if they’re even going to finish.”
The crux of the matter is that solving solving the problem is not going to be straightforward, quick, or cheap.
“The resolution to this is that the ceiling is wrapped or insulated,” Scully said.
“The quote for that is approximately €100,000. The Council are not willing to pay for it, and at the very least, they’re dragging their heels on it.
“We have spoken to every County Councillor in Portlaoise on numerous occasions over the last couple of years, we’ve spoken to all the TDs – and we were promised the sun, moon and stars, but nobody is doing anything.
“Nothing has changed. The issues that are there were there five years ago.
“We as a club already shipped out €10,000 to get the hall re-lined and varnished.
“We feel that with a club this size, going so well as it it, in a town the size of Portlaoise, there should be an adequate adequate facility where we can play National League and Super League games.
“We’re an indoor sport – this should not be happening.”
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