ISSUE 18: FEATURED SPREADS

Check out a selection of featured spreads from issue 018 below...

EDITOR’S ANGLE 018: Editor's words–

THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
On the local hoops front, the hottest topic at the moment is easily the survival of the NBL. It is interesting to me that ex players, administers and front office suits are continually discussing the glory days of basketball, namely the mid ‘90s. Back in the so called good old days, the Kings were able to pack out the Sydney Entertainment Centre because, firstly, the team’s style of play and its star imports were as exciting and memorable as anything in the league and, secondly, it was the only team on the Sydney basketball landscape. The West Sydney Razorbacks, while not drawing huge crowds, draws fans from growing centres like Penrith, Castle Hills, Campbelltown, Liverpool and Parramatta, effectively splitting the fan base. When the Pigs fell apart – losing Derek Rucker, Bruce Bolden, Steve Markovic, John Rillie, Sam Mackinnon and, everyone’s favourite defensive player, Simon Dwight – the Kings fans who had become Razorbacks fans left the game and never really returned. Something the NBL never realised, and which is an underrated factor in the dissolution of Sydney, is that by creating rivalries – which are good for the sport – you are making fandom transitions impossible. South Melbourne Magic fans are, by definition, not Melbourne Tigers fans. Razorback fans are not Kings fans, and cannot ever be again. Introducing a new team into Melbourne with the Dragons reinvigorated the former Magic fans, just as the inevitable new Sydney team will regain at least some of the former Kings supporters. By looking back at those glory days, the NBL is doing itself a disservice and telling itself a lie. The Kings’ consistent excellence and contemporary situation drew crowds, and the fact that the team no longer exists is not the death of basketball in Australia.

Much of that pessimistic naysaying comes from a common misconception about the state of basketball internationally. This myth says that, with hugely popular leagues in America and Europe, the NBL is a weak, impossibly outmatched competition that will never be able to climb to those heights. This is wrongheaded for two reasons. First, it’s a negative slant on what should be a positive reality: we can do better. Secondly, the NBA and the EuroLeague are hardly the hale and hearty lands of plenty that they appear. The NBA shouldn’t necessary be the blueprint, as it is about the fifth fiddle in the American sports market. With 100,000 retail outlets worldwide and a million visitors to its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, it may seem the godhead of sports leagues, but in actuality, those numbers trail professional gridiron, Major League Baseball and college football and basketball significantly, with NASCAR, golf, tennis, hockey and even soccer close at hoops’ heals. While the NBA is surely a global giant, only a quarter of its merchandise profits come from overseas, and its taken a major dip since the mid ‘90s, just as the NBL has. Worse, rather than embracing the relative popularity of NBA ball and using it to drive the local game, the NBL instead decided to run away from the juggernaut of footy (all codes play in winter) and relocate to warmer climes (summer), thus placing it in direct competition with the NBA! That has pitted basketball against itself meaning that, instead of having great hoops to watch all year round, Australian fans have the choice of tuning into a top form American engagement on Foxtel or buying a ticket to see a local game live. Worse, while getting away from football – a good thing – the seasonal move had the unexpected result of placing basketball in competition with the rising A-League, cricket and, most damningly, beach weather.

There is a further conception that is more immediately infuriating than any of the above, and that is that the fans are somehow to blame for Sydney’s dissolution, the woes of Brisbane, and the past problems in Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong and anywhere else team’s have fallen apart. The Tigers and the Crocs seem to do ok, Brisbane was drawing crowds even while owner Eddie Groves’ external financial situation was shredded by the failing of his ABC Learning Centres and people keep showing up to watch every team in the league no matter how ratty the gyms or how poorly the league is promoted. The fans cannot be, and never were, the issue. The issue comes from higher up. Former NBL Commissioner Rick Burton knew who Firepower owner Tim Johnston was and the owner’s financial situation over a year ago and responded by fleeing the country to join the US Olympic Committee rather than cleaning up our game. Virgin Blue is the official airline, in name only. Hummer was the naming rights sponsor, but did little more than give away one truck. If a fan wants to purchase a DVD of the Kings’ recent three peat, or a book about the Gaze and Copeland glory days, or a framed picture of the national team, or a coffee table book of the Opals World Championship run, or any number of past and current jerseys, where might he or she turn? Where’s the merchandise, the paraphernalia, the stuff that gets hardcore followers juiced up? Steve Carfino spoke during a Fox Sports Long Lunch interview about the apparent lack of hero culture, but who is the L supposed to have represent them? It is slim pickings at the top, and the investment into imports isn’t helpful when they bolt following any success, minus a select few. Hero culture is built off excitement, villains, highlights and image. There is no physical link with the culture (merchandising), and there is no encouragement of hero worship (advertising). Sport is about walking with the gods, and the NBL and Basketball Australia seem to have no interest in putting its players on any pedestal to speak of.

On air, Carfino asked where all the fans had disappeared to. There are a myriad of answers, but one of the best is the internet, which allows fans of the game live updates of international games, instant stats and comprehensive analysis, all nearly for free.  The NBA reports that its website is visited by over 20 million people each year – equal to every single living soul in all of Australia. That’s the reach of the web, and that it’s potential reach. No one is expecting the NBL to even match 10 percent of that, but it could at least begin a dialogue with the community who will go to games, buy jerseys and tell their friends to do the same. In order for basketball to work in a commercial marketplace, it must know itself, be self aware and, above all else, it must know how it came to be and where it wants to go. Know what you are selling, why you are selling it and why your audience wants it is key. Asking whether the league can survive simply isn’t good enough. If you ask that question, you’ve already lost, and it’s complacent, at best, to talk about maintaining fan bases and franchises. I need more. It’s like basketball is stuck in economy seating after a short stint in first class and is now gazing longingly at the strawberries and champagne up front and wondering what happened. Up front is the A-League and its sugar daddy Frank Lowe. Until the recent problems in Brisbane, Eddie Groves was seen as many as the NBL’s White Knight, just as Lowe infused a huge amount of money into local soccer. We cannot wait for a saviour to resurrect the game. Those types of golden tickets only exist in Roald Dahl novels, and even then aren’t as perfect as they seem. The figureheads behind the game in this country need to wake up, dispel these awful, counterproductive myths and face the realities of our current situation – no matter how dire – with our chins up and our minds open. I need my basketball and I need more than complacency and fear mongering from its leaders. – ED

To read the full story, purchase your copy of handle magazine – issue 018 – on sale now.