Sorcha Tiernan of Ireland in action against Daniel Karsh of Israel during the Fiba Women’s EuroBasket Championship Qualifier match. Photo: Sportsfile
Basketball Ireland has regained access to its Instagram account after Meta informed the sport’s governing body that it was “removed in error” .
The sport’s chiefs had complained to the Government and Sport Ireland after the account was permanently disabled following Ireland Women’s controversial European Championship qualifier with Israel on February 8.
Though Meta did not confirm it was related to the Israel game, Basketball Ireland noted the “added media and social media attention in the lead-up” to that clash in a statement on Saturday.
A fresh announcement last night, however, confirmed that the national federation had regained access to its social media accounts.
“Basketball Ireland is pleased to announce that our official Instagram account @basketball_ireland has been restored by Meta,” the statement read.
“Basketball Ireland was informed of this via email from Meta shortly after 5pm on Sunday, stating that the ‘account was removed in error’.
“Basketball Ireland would like to thank all those who assisted in resolving the matter and we look forward to showcasing Irish basketball at all levels on our official page with a busy week ahead, including our All-Ireland Schools League finals, two FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers and a packed domestic schedule.”
After losing access to their original account, the sport’s national governing body was also briefly blocked from an alternative Instagram account it set up on Saturday.
However, it quickly regained access to this alternative account after querying the issue with Meta.
Ireland’s encounter with Israel earlier this month drew criticism over the Middle Eastern country’s continued bombardment of the Gaza strip.
Tensions were heightened after the Israeli team were pictured with the IDF in the build-up to the controversial clash. The situation worsened when Israeli player Dor Sa’ar then labelled the Irish “quite antisemitic” in a pre-match interview on her federation’s website.
Basketball Ireland strenuously refuted these allegations and refused to shake hands with their opponents before the game in protest over the comments.
