Swords Thunder was an Irish

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team based in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. The team competed in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

and played its home games at the ALSAA Sports Complex.

History

Dublin Thunder

In 2010, Dublin Thunder Basketball Club was founded. The following year, founder member Dave Baker became the inaugural coach of club's senior men's representative team. Aligned with

Dublin Business School Dublin Business School (DBS), incorporating Portobello College, is a private college Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they of ...

, Baker applied for national league status, but rulings required them to have played at least one year at local level before playing in the national league. With the Dublin league being full, Dublin Thunder entered the European Friendly Basketball League (EFBL). Between July 2011 and January 2012, they went unbeaten in the EFBL. They also boasted a friendly record of 27–1, having played 28 games against four American colleges, a pro team from the Philippines and five SuperLeague teams. On 27 January 2012, Dublin Thunder won the Basketball Ireland Senior Men's National Cup with an 87–45 win over

UCD Marian UCD Marian is an Irish basketball team based in Dublin that competes in the Super League. The team is a division of UCD Marian Basketball Club and is directly associated with the University College Dublin. History Early years Marian Basketball Cl ...

in the final. For the 2012–13 season, Thunder entered the National League Division 1.

Swords Thunder

For the 2013–14 season, the team was renamed Swords Thunder after Dublin Thunder Basketball Club linked with Swords Basketball Club. They went on to finish runners-up in the National League Division 1 while securing the Three Nations Cup title in

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

, Italy. For the 2014–15 season, Swords Thunder entered the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and finished as regular season runners-up. In the 2015–16 season, Thunder made their maiden final appearance in the Hula Hoops Men's National Cup, where they lost 78–75 to

Templeogue Templeogue is a southwestern suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It lies between the River Poddle and River Dodder, and is about halfway from Dublin's centre to the mountains to the south. Geography Location Templeogue is from Dublin city centre t ...

. In the 2016–17 season, Thunder won the Hula Hoops Men's National Cup with a 72–51 victory over

Killester Killester () is a small residential suburb of Dublin, Ireland on the Northside of the city in the Dublin 3 and Dublin 5 postal districts. It was the site of a church and convent or monastery centuries ago, and later a small village developed. ...

in the final. They also finished as regular season runners-up for the second time in three years. In February 2019, Swords Thunder disbanded and withdrew from the Super League midway through the 2018–19 season. The team began the season relatively well and were in third spot in November, but after founder and coach Dave Baker began suffering with health problems, the team started to fall apart and its relationship with main sponsor Griffith College began to weaken.

References

{{Irish Super League Super League (Ireland) teams Basketball teams in County Dublin Sports clubs and teams in Fingal Basketball teams disestablished in 2019 Basketball teams established in 2010