BNI would like to wish the best of luck to the Belfast Bulls Basketball ‘Ma Bulls’ team as they head down to take part in their first SOCIA-Ball l day in Dublin this weekend ran by Basketball Ireland to celebrate International Womens Days, SOCIA-Ball day in the TUD Tallaght on Sat 9th March, 2024!
SOCIA-Ball is a non-competitive event, Basketball Ireland run in a blitz format and scores will not be kept. Teams can come with fancy dress (but not compulsory, wear what you are comfortable in) but same colour. Games will be cross court format running from 10am – 3pm in .
- Games will be running clock 15 mins each.
- They will be playing music throughout the day and when games are played.
The Ma Bulls have helped ignite the way for social basketball in Northern Ireland creating a welcoming space for people from all over Belfast and greater Belfast area.

“We started this progamme as a way to help women get a chance to play and be introduced to the sport of basketball. We had initially seen it as away to help parents understand a little more after some of their children had joined us in the #BabyStepstoBasketball and #FUNdamental programmes. It almost snowballed from there. Stephen, Maria and I have always been driven by the field of dreams idea of “if you build it they will come”. We wanted to create a space and environment that people would enjoy coming to.” Said Marc Mulholland, Founder and Coach at Belfast Bulls Basketball
Marc continues, “We started off in a half court setting and within a few weeks our group grew to over 38 women. A number of the women shared what they where doing with their friends and we had to get the full court organised at Olympia Leisure Centre. Each week we now have on average of 24 turning up. It is the women themselves that have set the tone for what they want to get out of their time. Which is really important for them to buy into the process and enjoy their time on the court. One of our participants Joanne O’Neill (from Belfast Star) floated the idea last summer about getting involved with the Basketball Ireland SOCIA-Ball blitz and it got a great response.
I worked with Basketball Ireland’s COO Louise O’Loughlin, who headed up the project and she explained the process of how we would go about setting up as a SOCIO-Ball hub. Once this was done we were able to tailor training sessions for the Ma Bulls to help them build towards playing games.
I am so proud of everyone of the ladies. 90% of the women have never played basketball before and the players play before have totally bought into the purpose adding to creating a great peer to peer learning space. Not everyone has the time to commit to leagues and playing time associated with them. Making a sport accessible for all is key and that is what Ma Bulls is about.

The Ma Bulls played host a blitz with some of the teams that are taking part in Basketball NI’s “She Got Game” project supported by Sport NI. This great initiative is the beginnings of a great social basketball community were women from across NI can meet together, share experiences and learn something new in the sport all while keeping it social and fun for all involved.
“All of the teams were just fantastic, it was great to see them all enjoy playing the game, enjoying the social aspect on the sidelines and we look forward to going to more across NI in the future. It’s a big step for anyone to try something new, but it has been so rewarding to see the Ma Bulls on this journey and being excited about the trip to SOCIA-Ball in Dublin. All their hard work over the past year has paid off for them and I am sure they will enjoy every minute of it.” Coach Marc Mulholland
Best wished from all at BNI to the Ma Bulls team this weekend. The schedule for Basketball Ireland SOCIO-Ball is below if any club is interest in becoming a Basketball Ireland SOCIO-Ball hub please contact Triona Leahy tleahy@ireland.basketball



