Hoops a low priority in UK

LONDON — Football, rugby, cricket and occasionally boxing dominate the sports pages of English newspapers. They’re the sports that the British follow with a passion.

For a Filipino visitor like me who’s hooked on hoops, it’s almost torture not to find anything on basketball in the local papers. For days, I’ve scoured the pages of the Observer, the Times, the Daily Express, the Evening Standard, the Daily Mirror, the Guardian and even the popular tabloids The Sun and the News of the World to check on developments in hoops but found nearly nothing.

There was some mention of the progress in Kobe Bryant’s trial for rape in Colorado. And that wasn’t even in the sports pages. Apparently, the British regard Bryant’s case an item for the world news section instead of the sports beat.

But in the Guardian the other day, I came across a short item on hoops in the sports section buried at the bottom of a sidebar titled "Sport in brief." I nearly missed it because it was in the far corner of the page under items on equestrianism, rallying, motorcycling and athletics–to show how basketball rates in the order of popularity.

The item was an eye-opener. Writer Rob Dugdale reported that England struggled in a 71-41 defeat to Denmark at the Four Nations Tournament in Dublin. Dugdale mentioned that Denmark and Ireland finished ahead of England in the final standings. There was no indication as to the team that wound up last.

Julius Joseph was identified as England’s top scorer with eight points. No other details were divulged.

Reading the report, I understood why basketball is in the doldrums in England. Losing to Denmark by 30 points was like a slap in the face considering the Danes aren’t considered hoops hotshots in Europe. Worse, no English player scored in double figures.

From 2001 to 2003, England won only three of 10 games in the Eurobasket qualifying rounds. The English victims were Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Portugal. Italy was England’s worst tormentor as the Athens Olympic silver medalists mercilessly crushed the English twice–once by 36 and in another game by 58. Russia also dealt England two humiliating setbacks by 29 and 52.

The top four scorers in the English national squad in the 10 outings were Andrew Betts (16.7), naturalized citizen Tony Dorsey (13.7), Steve Hansell (10.9) and Yorick Williams (10.1). Both Betts and Hansell play as imports in Greece.

The first division British Basketball League (BBL) starts in October. There are 10 clubs listed for the coming season–the Brighton Bears, the Sheffield Sharks, the London Towers, the Chester Jets, the Newcastle Eagles, the Thames Valley Tigers, the Milton Keynes Lions, the Leicester Riders, the Scottish Rocks and the Birmingham Bullets.

In the last three years, the league has suffered annual pullouts from franchises due to financial reasons. The Manchester Giants, the Derby Storm and the Essex Leopards were the recent casualties.

The BBL teams play a 30-game regular season. Then eight qualifiers advance to the knockout quarterfinals, four to a group. The four survivors play in the one-game semifinals and the winners dispute the championship.

This past season, Sheffield beat Chester, 86-74, in the finals. The Sharks beat Thames Valley, 112-110, in the quarters and London, 94-88, in the semis of one division while the Jets defeated the defending titlist Scottish Rocks, 83-82, in the quarters and Brighton, 80-79, in the semis of the other division. Brighton posted a 30-0 regular season record only to be eliminated by a point in the semis.

The leading BBL scorer is Texas A&M star Calvin Davis of Chester. The Newcastle player coach is Fabulous Flourney who played at McNeese State, the school that produced Joe Dumars and Rosell Ellis. Other crack US imports in the English league are Kendrick Warren, John McCord, Kenny Gregory and Shawn Myers. New Zealander Pero Cameron suits up for Brighton.

London-born former Los Angeles Laker forward Steve Bucknall of North Carolina plays for Birmingham. Another London-born player Ben Gordon was the Chicago Bulls first round pick in the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft this year. Another Bulls rookie Luol Deng was born in the Sudan and moved to London with his family before landing in the US. Center John Amaechi is another English link to the NBA.

Several BBL cagers enjoy dual citizenship. Among the double passport holders are Mike Redd (US/English), Sullivan Philips (Bermuda/English) and Dorsey.

Former Philippine Basketball Association imports who played in the BBL include Micah Blunt and Leon Trimmingham.

England is tied with the Czech Republic and Bosnia at No. 20 in the rankings of the top 31 European leagues. There are 13 major European leagues. England is listed among eight countries that operate "medium" leagues. The English squad is ranked No. 26 of 48 European national teams.

Basketball is to the Philippines what soccer is to England and vice-versa.