The league returns this weekend coinciding with European Week of Sport

This weekend sees the return of the Irish Wheelchair Basketball League (IWBL) and the commencement of the 2022-23 season. The season will seem to have come around quickly for many given the amount of activity over the summer months – both the Irish Senior and U23 teams were in European action with strong representation from across the league. Pre-season training will have begun for many towards the back end of the summer months, but as is always the case, the weeks leading into the start of the season soon turn into days before we find ourselves counting the hours ahead the first tip-off of the season.

This season will see a change in format and a break from the traditional structure the fixture layout. Last season seen the amount of league games cut in half for a variety of reasons, prompting a conversation about how the new season would look. This year, each team will play each other once with the league splitting in half once all the games have been completed. From there, the top five will play each other one more time, as will the bottom four. These games will take place over two weekends in April.

Returning champions, Rebel Wheelers, will be looking to make it a fourth League title in a row as they embark on another season under the tutelage and guidance of newly appointed Irish Men’s Senior coach, Con Coughlan. Such is their strength-in-depth, Rebel Wheelers will be entering two teams into the IWBL this season – an ‘A’ team containing their senior players from previous seasons, and a ‘B’ team aimed at developing their younger players who have come up through the ranks and via the ‘Junior Blitz’ competition.

It certainly won’t be a straightforward task for the Rebels to regain their title with several teams around the league having improved over the summer months. Limerick Celtics and Killester WBC – who completed the top-three last season – pushed the Cork men all the way last year and will be looking to get one over on their rivals this season. Similarly, Galway Titans will be coming into the season with a renewed impetus having lost their match against the Rebels last season by a single point, in a game that literally went down to the last five seconds. Kingdom Wheelblasters broke into the top four for the first time last season and will be looking to go one better this year – the Kerry men showed a marked improvement over the course of the season and were represented at International level during the summer, another first for the club. Ballybrack Bulls return having won the Walshe/Greene cup at the end-of-season playoffs for the fifth time in a row. Like Kingdom Wheelblasters, they’ll be looking to step it up this season and break into the top four and potentially challenge for a league title. South-East Swifts will look to build on their impressive showing last season – the Swifts were represented at International Senior level and had a squad member receive ‘Most Improved Player’ at the end-of-season awards. The confidence this will have bred will no doubt be replicated on court. Both Clonaslee WBC and North-East Thunder will have been disappointed with how last season played out for them, but having bolsters their ranks during the off-season, both teams will be hoping to challenge higher up the league this year and upset a few teams along the way.

The 2022-23 season also sees the return of the InsureMyHome.ie Cup, in association with Basketball Ireland. The knockout tournament will commence in December with the Final to be played during the final week in January. Last season saw Rebel Wheelers and Killester WBC make it to the final for the second year running, with the Rebels coming out victorious

in an end-to-end game. Rebel Wheeler’s Conor Coughlan took home game MVP, something he won’t want to relinquish this year.

The season will end with the now-traditional end-of-season playoffs for the Paddy Byrne, Walshe/Greene, and Gerard Larkin cups. Each cup is currently held by Rebel Wheelers, Ballybrack Bulls and Galway Titans respectively. Time and dates for the Playoff fixtures to be announced.