Wait, Emily Ratajkowsk grew up in Bantry?!

In news that no one expected this week, it was announced that the American supermodel and NFT pioneer Emily Ratajkowsk had sponsored a sports team… but if you’re thinking WBNA or something though, you’d be wrong.

It’s Bantry Basketball Club U15/16 team.

No really,  they tweeted this yesterday:

Thanks to Emily Ratajkowski @emrata for her new sponsorship of our boys under 15/16 team through her clothing brand @inamoratawoman pic.twitter.com/k4dMby1wkI

— Bantry Basketball Club (@bantryhoops) July 21, 2021

Emily’s clothing brand Inamo Rata is going to sponsor the team’s jersey’s after their coach, Pat Curran, put in a text to her parents about sponsorship and received a swift “yes”. Turns out, her father used to play for the club and the family has spent the last three decades living in West Cork on and off.

Curran told RTÉ, “It’s funny to see all the reaction and tweets, people think it’s gas. But they’re just normal people when it comes to Bantry. Nobody takes any notice, nobody bothers anyone,”

In fact, while she didn’t quite “grow up” here, Ratakowski has a lot of ties to the West Cork area as her parents, English lecturer Kathleen Anne Balgley and artist John David Ratajkowsk bought and renovated an old farmhouse in the area in the 1980s and Emily spent every summer there as a child.

Her Irish heritage is strong too, with both of her grandmothers hailing front the green isle, Emily’s middle name is O’Hara in their honour. She considers Ireland her “second home” and has plenty of old friends, many of whom have links to the basketball community apparently. Back in 2018, she tweeted her congratulations to the local school when they were crowned All Ireland basketball champions.

Congratulations Colaiste Pobail Bheanntrai – All Ireland champions!

— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) March 13, 2018

It seems too that not only is the basketball link just a local connection, but they’re also very proud of Ratajkowsk’s activism and feel she will make an excellent role model for the young basketball community.

associated with our club is a proud moment for us. Emily Ratajkowski is a champion of human rights, women's rights, a Black Lives Matter activist, an LGBTQ+ rights activist and an inspiration to young people worldwide. Our ? club is about more than throwing a ball in a hoop,

— Pa Curran (@PatJCurran) July 21, 2021

ethos in her daily life and we are so proud to have her associated with our club.

— Pa Curran (@PatJCurran) July 21, 2021

I sense there might be a lot more people showing up to the games now, in the hopes of seeing the team’s famous sponsor, although it appears the model is a regular visitor to West Cork, so keep an eye out on your next staycation visit.