Why Basketball in the United Kingdom Sucks

It is thoroughly believed that the UK could (if they wanted to) create a culture of basketball similar to that of football and rugby … and yet they don’t. Basketball is very much a minority sport over here, even though Basketball facilities are literally everywhere. And it’s not as if they’ve had no history of it. Basketball was introduced to Britain by the Americans shortly after its creation, and there are uniquely different reasons as to why Basketball in the UK sucks.

The problem is not due to lack of awareness or lack of participation. Basketball has more regular participants than sports such as Cricket, Tennis, and Golf. It’s one of the sports that’s on the National Curriculum. So, unless your school doesn’t have the facilities, you are forced to play Basketball at a high school level as mandated by the government. You literally have no choice! Therefore, most people in the UK have played basketball at some point in their lives. And the problem isn’t lack of facilities either. Unlike ice hockey where there’s shamefully only 56 rinks in the entire country - finding basketball facilities is easy.

There are outdoor hoops, indoor leisure centers and schoolyard courts in literally every town and city in the country, and most of them are free to use. Also, unlike ice hockey, it’s a cheap sport to get into. Just buy a ball, find a hoop, and you’re good to go. We also have televised games, a top league and a national team. So, if Britain has all of this, what seems to be the problem?

Problem 1 – No culture; Traditional English sports such as Football and Rugby are ingrained into the culture of British society. Kids play them at school, parents take kids to games, Grandparents watch it on the tv and your friends all play or watch these sports. This does not exist for Basketball. There is no Basketball culture in Britain, and unfortunately, nothing is being done to change that. With better participation levels, television coverage and a decent national team it might. But as it stands - football and rugby are still king.

Problem 2 – No infrastructure; It’s mandatory to play the sport at high school, and that’s fine. But what happens after that? Can you play this at college or university? Are there recreational teams and leagues that you can join once you reach 16? Is there a league progression system to get to the top level? Nobody really knows, as it differs between areas of the country. What doesn’t help is that professional teams barely have academies that gives kids a chance to play. And the governing bodies are doing next to nothing to change that. When the American NBA is doing more to fund and create leagues for kids in Britain, than Britain’s actual governing body, you know you’re in trouble. And in fairness to the NBA, they’re smart enough realize the untapped potential that the UK has for excellent players. They’ve thrown money at Britain it to make it happen. But they can’t do it by themselves and they won’t fund it forever. When the head of the BBL has openly admitted to doing a terrible job of developing the sport, it’s hard to argue against.

Problem 3: People are being lured away by football and rugby. When you’re athletically gifted, football and rugby offer significantly better pathways, progression and payment than basketball. And being a professional football or rugby player is a much more attractive option given that they’re the highest paid athletes in the country. You could be signed up to an academy by the age of 9 and can be “compensated” (but not officially paid because that would be illegal), to commit your future to this elite rugby or football team. Most kids would jump at the chance for this. And obviously, teams want to protect their investment – so there are strict rules about playing other sports – i.e., you can’t. This leaves kids who are athletically gifted (and more suited to basketball) not even being able to pick up a ball, because they signed a deal that prevents them from doing so. But when there’s more of a future in a different sport, would these kids actually care? The answer, is probably not.

Problem 4 – Awful top league. The UK has its own version of the NBA – called the British Basketball League. It’s been around for a while and believe it or not, it used to be pretty good! During the UK basketball boom of the 1990’s, professional teams were raking it in. Playing in NBA style arenas, with quality players, televised games and an increased demand for the sport at every single level. Basketball had never been so popular. This is the 1999/2000 Manchester Giants, playing in a 18,000-seat stadium, on prime-time Sky TV, and winning the BBL Championship watched by millions. That team was coached by Nick Nurse - yes, the same Nick Nurse that just led the Toronto Raptors to the NBA title.

Twenty years later, there is the Manchester Giants. Playing their games in what you Americans call ‘the local YMCA’, in front of crowds of about a hundred. It’s not televised and nobody in Manchester knows they’re even exist, let alone care that they now play their games in a leisure center. So how did it all go so horribly wrong? The simple answer, is money. The BBL lost its title sponsors and TV rights, which was a significant portion of its income. That means that teams were suddenly earning a lot less. These teams then couldn’t afford to pay decent players anymore, and replaced them with lower quality players. With a poorer standard of play, the spectators stopped showing up, which forced them to move cheaper and crappier facilities, thus making watching games an even more unattractive option. The primetime televised games stopped completely and with dwindling crowds and no coverage on terrestrial TV, this vicious circle has carried on to the present day. Professional teams will hire anybody who will work for peanuts. And nobody wants to pay good money to watch fourth rate supposedly professional basketball, being played out of a local rec center, when they can easily watch the NBA for free. This is how it’s all gone so wrong, so quickly.

Problem 5 – Barely a national team & The Government. Despite its problems, the UK have produced decent NBA-worthy talent. Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Joel Freeland, OG Anunoby, John Amaechi, Michael Olowokandi. But the point is that Britain produces some excellent basketball talent. So why is the national team so bad? Most of the aforementioned players had to leave the UK in order to develop their talents in the US. But most of the national team don’t have that luxury. When you’ve got players who barely earn money rotting away in a league that isn’t exactly pro, you’ve got a limited pool of players to choose from.

The Government’s stance on sports funding is simple - we’ll only give you money if you win big. The only reason that Great Britain had a basketball team in the 2012 Olympic games, is because they hosted the damn event and qualified by default. Predictably, both the men’s and women’s team got blown out repeatedly. The government deemed the Olympic Basketball teams to be complete failures, prompting them to withdraw its funding from the sport of basketball. Typical British government logic, you suck at a sport, so instead of us giving you money to improve, we’ll take it away and you can be even more of an embarrassment on the international stage. Well done government, well done. It’s gotten so bad that the National Teams almost withdrew indefinitely, simply because they couldn’t afford to play. When your country’s best player is advocating people to leave the country and play in the United States instead, that pretty much says it all!

Problem 6 – False promises. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a true British NBA equivalent? Prime-time TV, big name players, academy, culture and basketball everywhere? One person promised all of that. Enter Ron Scott, an American businessman who founded the British Basketball Association, which was to rival the BBL and blow it completely out of the water. He promised big time players, lucrative TV and sponsorship deals, capacity crowds at world class arenas, and millions of dollars being thrown at it to make professional Basketball as big as professional rugby. And teams would be in major big-time profit. Sounds pretty good right? The news sent the media into a frenzy and Ron Scott was seen promoting this new league on TV, on the Internet, on social media, and this sent shockwaves throughout the entire basketball world.

This amazing all singing all dancing basketball league was slated to commence play in 2006 … then 2011… and by 2016 nothing happened. They rebranded themselves as the Premier League of Basketball, presumably because the BBL (and possibly the NBA) would sue them mercilessly over the name, but this choice is even worse because they’d be sued by these guys instead. This new iteration promised even more money, bigger TV deals, larger crowds at bigger stadiums. And they were meant to commence play in 2016. Four years later … and still nothing has happened. Ron Scott is either a very poor conman, or the world’s best procrastinator. Because if you spend some time to do the research and read the online articles everything about him and his fictional organization is a sham. Terribly organized, the finances don’t add up, promises that never came to fruition … and the funniest thing of all? His London-based head office … is actually a card shop on Wardour Street.

This apparently, is going to be home to a league that’s as good as the NBA. Are you serious?! Sadly, he’s not the first person, (and won’t be the last) to promise sweeping reforms to the sport in this country. Let’s face facts. British basketball is in more trouble now than it’s ever been. It’s in significantly worse shape than ice hockey and American Football, even though significantly more people play it. The rest of Europe doesn’t have these problems, and competitions such as EuroBasket proves that with excellent organization, TV coverage, funding, a clear structure and developed culture – that Basketball can thrive in any nation, because it’s an excellent sport. There’s no reason why Britain can’t be just as good as anyone else. When smaller countries like Lithuania are embarrassing you in front of the world, it’s time to do something about it.