Belfast Star

Belfast Star is an Irish basketball team based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The team competes in the Super League and plays its home games at Methodist College. The team is a division of Belfast Star Basketball Club and is the only team in the Super League based in Northern Ireland.

History

In 1964, the late Dr. Liam Conlon founded Star of the Sea Youth Club. Primarily a football club, Conlon wanted to encourage participation in other sports, so future Star president Bill McCotter became involved at the forefront of basketball development at the club. By the late 1960s/early 1970s, a Star of the Sea men's basketball team was playing in the Ulster League. In 1982–83, Dave Shehadi – an American from Bucknell University – became player-coach and this boost for the club resulted in the team entering the All-Ireland League in 1983–84 with John Copeland, a 6'9” Californian who played at UNLV, as the professional.^[1]

Star's best known American was Javan Dupree, who arrived in 1985 and played for the next 15 years before retiring. He was a vital part of the team's dominance in the late 1990s. In 1996, Star won their first of three consecutive National Championships.^[2][3] They also won back-to-back All-Ireland League titles in 1998 and 1999.^[4]

The team was known as Sx3 Star (2001–03) and MDS Star (2003–06) throughout the early 2000s. In 2007, Star of the Sea Basketball Club changed their name to Belfast Star Basketball Club.^[5] Prior to the 2012–13 season, Belfast Star withdrew from the Irish National League.^[6] They were able to re-enter the league for the 2013–14 season.^[7]

Achievements

• 2 Irish National League titles: 1998, 1999^[8]
• 3 Irish National Championships: 1996, 1997, 1998

Current roster

Belfast Star roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. 4.5 !F/C IRE ! Cairns, Keelan 7000208000000000000♠2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 1.5 !G IRE ! McGaharan, Paddy 7000188000000000000♠1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 3.5 !F IRE ! Milligan, Ruaidhri 7000200999999999999♠2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 3.5 !F IRE ! Mullan, Paddy 7000193000000000000♠1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 3.5 !F IRE ! Pettigrew, Liam 7000202999999999999♠2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 1.5 !G IRE ! Quinn, Sean 7000185000000000000♠1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 1.5 !G IRE ! Ryan, Adam 7000185000000000000♠1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 3.5 !F USA ! Stith, Dillon 7000198000000000000♠1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 1.5 !G IRE ! Toner, Ferghal 7000190000000000000♠1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	Head coach Darren O'Neill Assistant coach(es) Danny Fulton Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 17 December 2016

References

External links

• Official website
• Old Star of the Sea BC website at the Wayback Machine (archived January 16, 2000)
• Belfast Star's sparkling history is brought to book