british basketball.How poor is it?

[OlDeRaDo_64]

I play for a team, in the England Basketball league (its a minor team) U14's. We arent good but are the 2nd best in our league (after preston) I enjoy playing in Tournies, friendlies, rallies etc but i mean us, Preston and Rossendale are the only teams that show up out of our 7 team league... that to me shows lack of devotion for the game. I dont think basketball will ever take off, but its gradualy rising.

[simasu01]

Well Slovenia has always been the richest out of former Yugo countries, I don't think they ever had problems besides the war years. Lithuania on the other hand, is poor, as is Latvia. We, Lithuanians and Latvians, are probably the poorest out of Euro Union countries, besides obviously Romania and Bulgaria, and Poland and Hungary probably. But nobody sponsors anything in Lithuania with basketball unless they have connections, so kids just play by themselves and then there are interclass tournaments, meaning let's say all 10th graders are split up into classes which are usually a, b, c, d, e, and sometimes f. They have tournaments between themselves, so if a class only has 7 or 8 boys, then thats the way it is. Obviously, the most important thing that keeps this basketball tradition going is the pride that we have some of the best players from such a small nation and it is also one of our only ways where we could resist to russia during the soviet times.
UK I think doesn't think it needs another sport, and kids grow up playing football like kids grow up playing basketball in Lithuania.

[la bomba]

Well Slovenia has always been the richest out of former Yugo countries, I don't think they ever had problems besides the war years. Lithuania on the other hand, is poor, as is Latvia. We, Lithuanians and Latvians, are probably the poorest out of Euro Union countries, besides obviously Romania and Bulgaria, and Poland and Hungary probably. But nobody sponsors anything in Lithuania with basketball unless they have connections, so kids just play by themselves and then there are interclass tournaments, meaning let's say all 10th graders are split up into classes which are usually a, b, c, d, e, and sometimes f. They have tournaments between themselves, so if a class only has 7 or 8 boys, then thats the way it is. Obviously, the most important thing that keeps this basketball tradition going is the pride that we have some of the best players from such a small nation and it is also one of our only ways where we could resist to russia during the soviet times.
UK I think doesn't think it needs another sport, and kids grow up playing football like kids grow up playing basketball in Lithuania.

yes,quite frankly I think basketball in the UK is a utopia.I really don't think it will ever be a watched and understood sport nevermind a popular one!

[simasu01]

So do you people have any ideas of what to do to increase popularity? Do you think that the Olympics will help?

[stax]

the olympics in 2012 maybe! as for beijing, i wouldn't count on it

the original Dream Team increased the popularity of the sport in this country but looking back it seems to have only been a phase. i'd say basketball was more popular than ever here from 1992 to around 1998, although i might be wrong. you could pick up magazines like SLAM in almost every newsagent, most sports shops stocked NBA jerseys, Reebok and Nike ran Shaq and MJ ads on terrestrial british TV, and at one point in 95/96 Channel 4 broadcast four NBA shows a week, including a full live game and an hour-long show at 10.30 on saturday mornings(!)
however i think the most important thing to happen during this period was this. NBA on telly is one thing, but having places for kids to play is definitely more important in the long run.

these days ball is not in the public eye as much as it used to be, but the EBL seems to be more popular than ever. i can't speak for scotland or northern ireland because i'm not familiar with their leagues. and in the last few years british players have been making decent contributions in the BBL, rather than coming off the bench to replace american journeymen. theres also a few rec leagues around the country now too, something that was almost unheard of 15 years ago.

still, don't ask me how its going to grow into a genuinely 'big' british sport... if it didn't happen in the Jordan era, it probably never will.

[la bomba]

the olympics in 2012 maybe! as for beijing, i wouldn't count on it

the original Dream Team increased the popularity of the sport in this country but looking back it seems to have only been a phase. i'd say basketball was more popular than ever here from 1992 to around 1998, although i might be wrong. you could pick up magazines like SLAM in almost every newsagent, most sports shops stocked NBA jerseys, Reebok and Nike ran Shaq and MJ ads on terrestrial british TV, and at one point in 95/96 Channel 4 broadcast four NBA shows a week, including a full live game and an hour-long show at 10.30 on saturday mornings(!)
however i think the most important thing to happen during this period was this. NBA on telly is one thing, but having places for kids to play is definitely more important in the long run.

these days ball is not in the public eye as much as it used to be, but the EBL seems to be more popular than ever. i can't speak for scotland or northern ireland because i'm not familiar with their leagues. and in the last few years british players have been making decent contributions in the BBL, rather than coming off the bench to replace american journeymen. theres also a few rec leagues around the country now too, something that was almost unheard of 15 years ago.

still, don't ask me how its going to grow into a genuinely 'big' british sport... if it didn't happen in the Jordan era, it probably never will.

totally agree with everything you've said,I play in scotland and its no better up here.there are a few people as usual who give a lot of time and put a lot of effort but they just don't have the support or the finances to make things much better.Plus the organisation is sometimes poor,I coach an under-18 team a couple of my players are in scotland under 16 and under 17 squads,because we are not in edinburgh or glasgow,they get shafted time and time again by getting told about a training camp like 3 days before the event.There is a massive bias to edinburgh and glasgow players,its very cliquey.like you my prospects for the future are gloomy.there will be a slight boom before,during and a year or two after the 2012 olympics but it won't amount to anything.it will die away quietly.

[stax]

like you my prospects for the future are gloomy.there will be a slight boom before,during and a year or two after the 2012 olympics but it won't amount to anything.it will die away quietly.

i'm pretty optimistic about 2012 because for the first time ever (fingers crossed) we have a british NBA star who the average 9 year old kid will be able to identify. its a blessing that we qualify as hosts too.
if it all goes well maybe there will be more interest from TV & newspapers in the tough campaign to qualify for the 2016 games. and by then we'll all be going to work in hovercars and our dinner will be downloaded from the internet to our plates, i'm looking forward to that! haha

[simasu01]

Good luck with basketball UK. I think basketball has nowhere to go but up in England and Scotland. I have no idea about if it will effect Wales, which is a lot of times considered England by many people, and Northern Ireland which I think is really a part of Ireland that just belongs to Britain. But if it effects them, then maybe it will effect Ireland too.

[la bomba]

Good luck with basketball UK. I think basketball has nowhere to go but up in England and Scotland. I have no idea about if it will effect Wales, which is a lot of times considered England by many people, and Northern Ireland which I think is really a part of Ireland that just belongs to Britain. But if it effects them, then maybe it will effect Ireland too.

Thanks for the optimism,I am not so optimistic.I still think most people in this country have no idea who Luol Deng is.I was speaking to someone a couple of years ago who said apart from schummacher whoelse do the germans have who is a world sports star?I said well they have Nowitski.evryone laughed and said exactly!!who is nowitzki?They didn't have a clue,there must have been 6 people in the room,all allegedly sports fans.

[simasu01]

I think basketball is only going to go up because it doesnt really have anywhere lower to go plus the UK natl team got into division A and London 2012 Olympics are coming. I'm sure there are people who have never heard of Luol Deng, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if German sports fans havent ever heard of Nowitzki which is unlikely, but he is the only bright spot in German basketball, and if Germany doesn't go to Beijing then Nowitzki is done and Germany will be at level zero. I think you could compare Deng and Nowitzki in a way, both are good basketball players, even though Nowitzki is on a totally different level, and both play for countries that have no interest in basketball. I think as long as Deng plays, then UK will be fine, and people will look up to him, just like people look up to Nowitzki in Germany. I think if Ben Gordon joins, UK basketball will jump extremely high, and it will be written in the papers, and people will read about it, and see that they arent bad and could be interested in it

[la bomba]

I think basketball is only going to go up because it doesnt really have anywhere lower to go plus the UK natl team got into division A and London 2012 Olympics are coming. I'm sure there are people who have never heard of Luol Deng, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if German sports fans havent ever heard of Nowitzki which is unlikely, but he is the only bright spot in German basketball, and if Germany doesn't go to Beijing then Nowitzki is done and Germany will be at level zero. I think you could compare Deng and Nowitzki in a way, both are good basketball players, even though Nowitzki is on a totally different level, and both play for countries that have no interest in basketball. I think as long as Deng plays, then UK will be fine, and people will look up to him, just like people look up to Nowitzki in Germany. I think if Ben Gordon joins, UK basketball will jump extremely high, and it will be written in the papers, and people will read about it, and see that they arent bad and could be interested in it

This time I can't agree,though germany is not a basketball crazy country you can't put it at a level with the Uk,you don't seem to understand how low it is.Alba berlin,brose baskets,skyliners etc,none particularly good but all far better than any uk team.Alba berlin is in the ULEB and atleast crowd attendance is 5000+,as is brose baskets and frankfurt skyliners.the uk has guildford in the ULEB ,first team in a decade in europe,has lost every match by a hammering,against turk telecom there were 500 fans and a lot of them were turks!even in the season opener against dkv,with Ricky Rubio in town,it wasn't full I think there were about 1500 to 2000 the hall they played in which is not their own had capacity of 2500.Germany were european champions without Nowitzki,and have always been in european A div,if not always strong.Scotland is only uk team ever to take part in a european cup and never won a match.that was back in the 50s or 60s.so briefly yes the germans aren't a basketball nation but compared to the uk germany is basketball mad!

[simasu01]

I guess your right you people live there and know how it is. I cant even imagine walking through cities and not seeing basketball courts. And Germany did win it in the early 90s, that means they do have someone once in a while. Germany does have role players like Okulaja and Brown. Is there a Scottish basketball league? I have never heard of basketball in Scotland. What do people play there as a secondary sport? Do any teams in Scotland or Wales or N Ireland play for the British League?

[la bomba]

I guess your right you people live there and know how it is. I cant even imagine walking through cities and not seeing basketball courts. And Germany did win it in the early 90s, that means they do have someone once in a while. Germany does have role players like Okulaja and Brown. Is there a Scottish basketball league? I have never heard of basketball in Scotland. What do people play there as a secondary sport? Do any teams in Scotland or Wales or N Ireland play for the British League?

Yes there is a scottish league.www.basketball-scotland.com
The national league has 8 teams.
Scottish Rocks play in the BBL(british basketball league ,(the only non-english team)Then its regional leagues.I play in a regional league and we are in the last 8 of the scottish cup,thats all club including the national league teams,so it doesn't say much for it really.In Scotland everyone plays golf,there are golf courses in almost every village!but most of all its football ,people who play sports for recrational reasons all play football,5 a side or whatever.Rugby,squash,hockey but I know very few people that for recreation play any other sport that isn't football.If you mention handball,they think your joking its totally unheard of,as for basketball,yes its played in schools but no one knows how big the game is in most parts of europe especially in the mediterrenean and the baltic states.

[simasu01]

So basketball is more like a game than a sport sort of like playing horse or shooting 3 pointers? I know that people play football, Scotland is at an unbelievably high level in it. Do they play Gaelic football or is that only Ireland? Football is the most popular sport in the world, I'm not THAT surprised they don't know it is at a high level in other Euro countries, but I just can't imagine countries without basketball, it is a part of our culture, and, well football is the second sport, still, when you are in Glasgow or Edinburgh or other big cities, I just couldn't imagine walking through and not seeing basketball courts and people playing, I've been to every major city in Lithuania, also in New York, Philadelphia, and some other places on the East Coast of USA and everywhere people were playing basketball. I've seen may videos of street football which I think is better than street basketball though.

[la bomba]

So basketball is more like a game than a sport sort of like playing horse or shooting 3 pointers? I know that people play football, Scotland is at an unbelievably high level in it. Do they play Gaelic football or is that only Ireland? Football is the most popular sport in the world, I'm not THAT surprised they don't know it is at a high level in other Euro countries, but I just can't imagine countries without basketball, it is a part of our culture, and, well football is the second sport, still, when you are in Glasgow or Edinburgh or other big cities, I just couldn't imagine walking through and not seeing basketball courts and people playing, I've been to every major city in Lithuania, also in New York, Philadelphia, and some other places on the East Coast of USA and everywhere people were playing basketball. I've seen may videos of street football which I think is better than street basketball though.

Its def a sport , just not played by many. Those who do play really are into it and give a lot of time to the sport,just not many of us.as for basketball courts,nah you won't see many of them and if you do see the odd one,there won't be anyone playing!