Anyone who knows anything about South African & African basketball could see a mile away that the new teams representing South Africa in the Basketball Africa League (the BAL) would get thrashed & it's not because we don't have a bit of talent, it's just the lack of investment in the sport of basketball in South Africa. The sports department of South Africa just does not take basketball seriously, I think it's still like a fun side-hobby to them. I was originally going to title this blog "South African basketball is a joke" but remembered that this unserious mentality is not only reserved for basketball but for any sport that isn't majority white.
Rugby in South Africa is taken as the leading sport because they've won three IRB Rugby World Cups. Rugby is traditionally a white sport in South Africa so you can be deluded into believing that white athletes are better & it's just not the case. As soon as majority white sports become more competitive globally (such as cricket & hockey), suddenly the South African national team just doesn't do so well anymore. There are about nine (9) vaguely competitive countries in the rugby world as compared to about forty (40) football national teams worldwide that could beat the FIFA World Cup champions on a good day. In all seriousness, there are two really good rugby countries worldwide - i. e. countries who take rugby seriously as their national sport: New Zealand & South Africa (partly). I've already blogged on the competition comparisons in rugby & football. I think the same comparisons can be made for a sport like basketball to others because while we believe basketball to be a "developed land" sport, it probably requires as much equipment to play as football, if not, less. So it has caught on in many countries making it a bigger sport than rugby in the African continent & the world. In a thirty kilometre radius in my locale, there are about eight basketball courts. People can't claim lack of access. The problem is how South African basketball is structured & who is selected to succeed in the game - & the people who used to choose who to make succeed in the sport used to be incredibly biased in my teenage years, I'm not sure about now.
Football in South Africa isn't structured too badly but it's lazily assembled. There are numerous ways domestic football in South Africa could be reinvigorated to create some really world-class talent but it's very sleepily organised much like a lot of things in South Africa. I've blogged about this before so I don't want to go into it so much, you'll just have to find the blog somewhere.
South Africa is somewhat a basketball country, whether we like to admit it or not. I am willing to bet that one out of every fifteen South Africans have wanted to play or have played basketball before. Just simply walked by a basketball hoop & taken a few shots with a ball... it's human nature. It's one of those "always wanted to do it" things. But with basketball as a national sport - we need to decide whether we;
1) want to simply make a development, talent identification & league structure to sift talent to the top or
2) if we really want to be top contenders in African basketball & possibly win an Afrobasket or two by introducing some innovative & enterprising concepts into South African basketball.
Because both options, with the right actions & decisions, are possible.
But instead; netball, rugby & even wheelchair basketball are pushed ahead of South African basketball. And, at this point, we may have to concede that South Africa / our sports department has a majority black sport success phobia. When we won an Olympic medal for the 4×100m relay, it was made an everything victory as though anyone in the country could pull it off, something I was lulled into believing myself (viz. blog link). People, the Olympics are insanely competitive, they are almost a political event in terms of importance. So Simbine, Maswangayi & the other two winning that medal was just not a small feat... but minimal sponsorship came along for the sport in comparison to the ever-failing South African cricket team.
Sports governance in this country simply needs to come out & be honest with the public & tell us what is the name of this mind game they're playing so we can understand how we can get them to take sport / black athletes seriously.
Having a basketball team formed a year ago, come into an established league in South Africa & win that league almost every single year since the founding of the BAL sounds very suspicious. And I almost can't believe that the established teams in South African basketball (Soweto Panthers, KwaZulu Marlins, Egoli Magic, Tshwane Suns etc.) never get to represent South Africa in the BAL. It's always a team founded a year or two ago. It's like the regular season in the NBA continuing as usual, a champion being crowned then suddenly, the NBA champions have to play against some newly assembled All-Star team for the title again. It's weird. But I really don't care, I just thought I should point out the injustice. I actually have a little schadenfreude everytime these unnatural Frankenstein teams from South Africa get thrashed. It's really funny, it's like watching the tale of Icarus in real life...
What's worse is that the BAL recently announced a kit deal with Puma (the German sports brand) & have a merchandise range for all the teams of the Kalahari conference including a South African basketball team that no one follows because it's barely a year old. It's crazy because I (& many others) would've really bought a KwaZulu Marlins Puma vest.
NB: KwaZulu Marlins are two-time (1997 & 2024) South African basketball national league champions.
