NBL's Christmas Day game a gift that'll keep on giving, hopefully more sports follow suit

Anyone who thinks professional sport should not be played on Christmas Day because of religious reasons clearly has never been to America.

After several years considering the idea, the NBL announced this year they would make Australian sports history by staging a match on Christmas Day with the Sydney Kings to host Melbourne United at Qudos Bank Arena.

Qudos, kudos to them. This is long overdue.

The NBA has been playing matches on Christmas Day since the New York Knicks beat Providence Steamrollers at Madison Square Garden while the Baltimore Bullets won at home against the Chicago Stags in 1947.

Two years later they were playing seven games on Christmas Day and it has grown to become a showpiece event each season.

This happens in the same United States of America which has “In God we Trust” as its motto.

Lakers star LeBron James drives to the hoop against Brooklyn Nets in their 2021 Christmas Day game in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

And without delving too deeply into the religious side of things, Christmas Day for most Australians is more about presents or has no spiritual meaning

In the 2021 national census, the percentage of the population who identify as Christians dipped to a record low. Of the 93.1% of people who answered the question, only 43.9%, dipping below 50% for the first time.  

The second-most common response was “no religion” at 38.9%.

Kings co-owner Paul Smith, in describing the game as “the last scheduling frontier in sport in Australia” summed it up well.

“We are a changing society. Christmas isn’t a holy event for all of us, and it can be a lonely day for a lot of people. So, to be able to come out to a world-class venue for a world-class game of hoops, or just watching the Sydney Kings at home on television, it’s a game changer.”

And if any professional sportspeople do not want to play a match on Christmas Day or any other day for that matter, that is their right and doing so would be nothing new.

All Blacks legend Sir Michael Jones refused to play matches on Sundays due to his strong Christian beliefs and missed matches in the 1991 World Cup and four years later in South Africa was not selected in the squad as the quarter-final and semi-finals were scheduled on Sundays.

All Blacks legend Sir Michael Jones. (Credit: Getty Images)

A generation ago, Australia was ghostly quiet on December 25 but working on Christmas Day has become much more commonplace so professional sportspeople can get a glimpse at how it is for the great unwashed who have to do a shift while missing out on quality time with their family and friends.

Test cricketers have been doing it for decades in preparation for the Boxing Day Test.

It will actually cost roughly double the usual NBL match to host a game on Christmas Day when you factor in the extra pay that will be required for the various staff needed to put on such an event but officials are willing to wear the cost in the hope of starting a new tradition.

Cricket Australia has also been contemplating rolling out a Big Bash League match on December 25 but has not made the leap of faith, so to speak.

You can be sure CA officials will be keeping a close eye on basketball’s experiment and if it’s successful, a BBL fixture on the day Santa delivers won’t be too far away.

The NBL’s decision will mean it has a free throw at the nation’s sports fans on Christmas night – the kind of tragics that we either are or have in our family who spend the evening looking for something to watch after all the presents under the tree have been unwrapped. 

Many of whom end up settling on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation which, despite being the fourth best option in the series, is still eminently rewatchable.

Melbourne’s Matthew Dellavedova drives to the basket against the Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

As an aside, European Vacation is my controversial choice as No.1, followed by the original Walley World extravaganza, Vegas, Xmas and then a distant fifth the 2015 reboot.

It’s unlikely that too many sports fans will turn on a Kings vs United game and suddenly become hoops fans.

In the depths of the pandemic when global sport was shut down pretty much everywhere, there were a few obscure leagues that were still going ahead but most fans watched old footage of the sports they love rather than watching South Korean baseball or marble racing. 

Yes, that was a thing if you can cast your mind back two long years ago.

For anyone who lasted more than one attempt at watching that “spectacle”, then it’s hard to say whether that’s extremely impressive or sad.

As for the NBL, if playing a game on Christmas Day brings some of their many long-lost fans back into the fold or turns occasional viewers into more regular ones then the gamble will be well worth it.

The NBL has also announced the “open air” game will be back on the schedule for 2022-23 on December 23 while Adelaide will host 

Any true Australian sports fan will tell you that Boxing Day is when our Christmases come at once.

There’s the Boxing Day Test, the start of the Sydney to Hobart and for the past few years a BBL game as well plus an A-League or W-League fixture in the evening while the NBA’s slate of games runs from early in the morning into late in the afternoon.

Too much sport is never enough.