I was at the pub last week, meeting some friends to watch Australia take on baseball powerhouse Cuba in a critical World Baseball Classic group match.
“World Baseball Classic?” I hear you ask. It’s baseball’s world cup, currently being held in Japan, Korea, Mexico and the USA.
As you do, I started talking baseball with some people around me. They were incredibly knowledgeable about the game – they all had a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, watched that team’s games, and had their team’s caps and shirts at home.
I asked the barman to change the channel and there, playing to a worldwide audience on ESPN and mixing it with the world’s best, was Australia’s national team, 99 per cent of whom had either played in this season’s Australian Baseball League or were ABL alumni.
I asked the people I was with whether they followed an ABL team. A couple had a passing interest but hadn’t ever been to a game. Others said they couldn’t care less about it.
When I asked why, I got a range of responses from “It’s rubbish”, to “I just don’t care”, and “the players are no good”.
When the commentators started talking about the MLB clubs Aussie players were playing with or had played for, there was a lot of surprised swearing (well, we were at the pub). There’s an abundance of baseball talent in Australia and, believe it or not, it is in our very own league.
‘Sporting cultural cringe’ is a strange phenomenon, and it does not bode well for the future of Australian sports.
Mike Tuckerman recently wrote on this site about football’s ‘Eurosnobs’ – people who talk down the A-League because they don’t think it’s as good as overseas leagues.
Wow, did Mike cop it! People piled on, showering the A-League with scorn. Sporting cultural cringe at its worst.
Of course the A-League doesn’t have the quality rosters of its overseas counterparts. Expecting any Australian sporting league to match or better its global equivalent is a fool’s errand – our leagues will never be able to compete financially, making it all but impossible to attract the world’s best.
The only Australian league even in the conversation as an elite league is the WNBL, this country’s longest-running professional women’s sports league.
The NBL recently finished season 2016-17. Crowds were okay, you could watch games on Foxtel, and all in all it’s a pretty good product that showcases a sport with one of Australia’s highest participation rates.
But right now, the league relies on one man’s money to exist, and he has to pay Foxtel’s production costs, which can run to around $40,000 per game. Gives a whole new meaning to ‘pay tv’, doesn’t it?
Believe it or not, Foxtel and the free-to-air networks aren’t in the business of knocking on a league CEO’s door with sacks of cash, asking for the season’s schedule.
The NBL has been around since 1979 and across the years, more than 30 clubs (and the league itself) have gone broke or merged. Would things have been different if even half of the supposed basketball fans in Australia actually attended an NBL game or bought a membership?
You know them… the people getting around in Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry and LeBron James singlets. Walk through your local shopping mall and you’ll see dozens.
If they’re into basketball enough to buy a singlet for a team they have no connection to, why wouldn’t they get involved with the NBL?
There’s a ton of elite, world-class athletic quality in Australia’s sporting leagues. But without crowds, membership and the sponsors and media coverage that follows, there will soon be nothing.
We’ve seen leagues fall over and leagues on their knees. If there’s no local league, there’s no pathway to identify and nurture Australian talent into the NBA, MLB and EPL stars of the future.
So you’re a huge Chicago Cubs fan who was overjoyed when they won last year’s World Series? You’re a Golden State fan desperate for redemption after last year’s NBA finals flameout?
If you love a sport, buy all the merch, write on all the forums, and even go as far as to break the law to watch it, why wouldn’t you support the Australian version?
It’s because you’re a sports snob… And you’re the worst thing for Australian sport.
Colin
Guest
Modern professional sport is just a 'product' or commodity...nothing like the footy played at the local club where you can go down and watch local amateurs play - and at no cost...have a beer at the bar even...a truely social event where you can interact with the locals and talk crap. With options on TV these days, and the quality of coverage, there's little incentive to watch live professional sport. I love AFL/NRL,and many oher sports, but haven't been to see a live game for a few years...too expensive, both entry fees and food/drink, plus the costs in time and money to get to the game. Life's too hectic these days. Relaxing in front of a Fox Sports channel is the way to go for me...
Michael Kanowski
Guest
Well now. Rossy, the author was NOT suggesting Aussie sport is in the same stratosphere as US counterparts. On the contrary he was saying it needs support if it aspires to approach this. Can you please acknowledge you attacked him wrongfully? Your third paragraph insinuates the author made a point he simply did not make. And Chris's comment did offer something to the issue, because he pointed out that you wrongfully criticised the author. The four words "if that's your view" and subsequent clause are what hurts your point, because IN NO WAY is that what the author's view is. If you really think non-traditional Australian sports should fold, then make your point fairly, without incorrectly criticising the writer.
Ants32
Roar Rookie
You're right there, Josh. However I think this may well be changing given the success of the BBL (and IPL and other T20 leagues). They may not have surpassed international cricket, but they are getting close to parity. :/ And, yes, I understand the difference in format is a significant factor. It may well further diminish the Sheffield Shield. Time will tell. :/
Ants32
Roar Rookie
@Chris +1
Ants32
Roar Rookie
If you want to watch the NBL without getting MurdochTel, download the app and watch it on your phone. :/
Andy
Guest
You've completely missed the point. The writer is talking about sports fans who do like US sports, but turn their noses up at the local leagues of those sports.
Andy
Guest
I am a baseball fan myself and do follow both the MLB and our local ABL competitions. I am not so sure if it is necessarily snobbishness, but there is certainly lack of exposure and in the case of the ABL, really only hardcore baseball fans know much about it as it receives scant coverage in the print media and none whatsoever on telly. There used to be a game a week on ESPN but they dropped their coverage. It is now only shown on a YouTube link via the ABL webpage. The game is growing at a junior level and I would hope the message can be spread so more people either play or watch the sport.
Glen
Guest
How realistic is it for someone from Brisbane to take a casual afternoon off to watch the 7th game between the Cubs and Indians live? What is the point of this comparison? All you Wanderers fans? How about you go watch the Real-Barca clash instead?
Chris
Guest
Oh ok. So they watch Lebron and Steph Curry and then its off to the NBA. Got it.
c
Roar Rookie
;)
me too
Roar Rookie
be interested, i literally know no one that watches. some wear the caps, but only as a fashion item. in a previous town i played a season of baseball but only the americans talked about mlb - but that was before foxtel or the internet became popular. a lot of people know about it from sports news and the odd film, but it would be surprising if it actually got okay ratings. i don't watch it, but used to watch the our own national league televised on abc in the mid-late eighties. the claxton shield i think it was called. as for fans watching foreign codes instead of our own, why not if the product is much superior? it still creates interest and may see kids take up the sport. And it helps explain why league, cricket, and australian football are the biggest sports - we are watching the highest level available.
Swampy
Guest
No but we will possibly watch hawthorn vs Sydney, parra vs Broncos, group 1 races, v8's, kings vs Hawks, scorchers vs Sixers, reds vs crusaders plus ten other options. We are not a one sport nation, not even a one code nation like the Netherlands. There is only so much time you can allocate to these loves. I have no issue with someone only watching the bigger event.
Lochie
Guest
Spot on. People complain the national leagues aren't good quality yet couldn't name the last time they actually watched a game.
Lionheart
Guest
The reason I became a football fan is at the core of this article. How can we ever expect to win a World Cup if we don't get behind our own teams? I grew up playing league and union, and followed them for years, still do but the A League and football is now my passion. I love cycling too, get behind Orica who do well on a world stage, and watch a bit of baseball/basketball, my old local team just won back to back ABL titles. I find the traditional Australian codes quite boring now. Fun to watch, but they're dead end sports with no international following.
Evan Askew
Guest
Do Dutch people refuse to watch Ajax v feeyenoord because Barcelona v real Madrid is better? Do Swedes refuse to watch malmo v ifk goteborg because hertha Berlin v Hamburg is better? Why is it Australians think this way. It Argentines, Dutch Swedes and various other nationalities think differently?
AJ Mithen
Expert
I come for the embarrassing articles, I stay for the snark!
Arky
Guest
The fact that you encountered Australians with an MLB team is unusual. 99.5% of Australians don't care about any kind of baseball, whether the ABL or the MLB. Next thing you'll be asking us to care about the Australian Handball League (is there one? I don't know). Sport's about what you enjoy, not about some weird sense of nationalist duty. I watch the Socceroos play. I stayed up late to watch the Boomers first overachieve and then choke at the Olympics, you can't exile me for lack of patriotism just because I happen to have been watching the European leagues longer than the A-League has existed and have more attachment to Arsenal than to the two A-League franchises in my town for which I have no reason to favour one or the other. Nothing to do with snobbery. As for the NBL, get onto free to air and I might care.
steppinrazor
Guest
double down on the snark, your readers will love it.
steppinrazor
Guest
spot on Mushi. Pretty embarrassing article to be honest.
Swampy
Guest
I'm not sure we can call NCAA a minor league for MLB & NBA. Patty & Bogut never played in the NBL. At junior level, registration fees pay for nearly all costs and at local seniors, the club's raise most of their money from sponsorships and club social events. Some clubs have pokies as well. The few spectators that do turn up these days contribute little to the development programs of our elite athletes. But we still have them. Our golden era in soccer was produced by a league of clubs that was considered far beneath the level required to succeed internationally and we blew it up and made the A-League. Crowds weren't great in the old NSL (except during finals) but it produced some of our best ever players despite the lack of resources. Basketball is in its healthiest state ever at junior level in this country and its because 10,000's of kids are playing. And part of that is because they've taken up watching due to Lebron James and Steph Curry - not Damian Martin or Kevin Listch.