27/03/2025
UBX Barrow Rovers Statement on NICC 2025 Final:
On January 19, 2025, UBX Barrow Rovers played St. Brendan’s in the NICC Final. In the last 0.8 seconds, a controversial three-point shot was awarded to St. Brendan’s at the buzzer, securing them the win. However, official footage clearly shows the ball was still in the player's hands when time expired, as indicated by the red light on the backboard. This was not a judgment call but a factual mistake that should have been corrected on the day before scoresheet was signed and refs leave the arena. Instead, the commissioner advised us to submit an appeal after the game, but we later found out that such errors can only be corrected before the scoresheet is signed. Despite following Basketball Ireland’s appeals process, our case was dismissed, with our second appeal ignored entirely. Escalating to the National Appeals Committee (NAC) was financially impossible for our self-funded club, as the fee alone equals nearly a full-year membership cost.
This has been extremely unfair and deeply frustrating. We invested time and money only to see a clear error ignored rather than corrected. Instead of ensuring fairness, it felt like no one wanted to address it.
We appreciate everyone who supported us in bringing attention to this issue. Hopefully, this pushes Basketball Ireland to introduce an Instant Replay System (IRS)/VAR to prevent similar injustices as that only would have been the difference between us being rightful NICC champions or not.
We were simply asking for fairness, accountability, and the integrity of the competition to be upheld.
