ALL STAR GAMES: My Opinion #longpost Hello all, Id like to weigh in my 2 cents on this issue. I know its easy to lay blame to different areas when we do not have the full information. I see us banging each other here and wonder whether we realize that we may also be shooting ourselves in the foot. I understand our frustration as players and it pains me that we are not where we need to be yet as basketball, but we have made strides. For the first time in so many years, we have prize money for the league, 1.6million for men, 900,000 for the women. Our game is accessible on TV. 1 out of the only 4 in the continent. When Supersport came aboard, they promised to invest in the game, to help us build solid products that can allow us attract even more investors into the game. It was clear that the returns would not be immediate and that is common with every other investment we make in life. One of the things they said they would do was help us set up an ALL STAR. The idea behind this was to get Kenya to grow as a basketball hub in Africa, sort of to have a sevens of basketball with an event that would attract all sorts of fans to the gymnasium and create a ripple effect to the game beyond the event and through to the league. Sort of the way rugby did with the sevens game. They felt that with putting extra investment in marketing the ALL STAR we would be able to attract fans who never really have left their comfort zone to come and watch OUR game. To be honest, the players needs were overlooked when planning for this event, which was a terrible mistake. However, this was eventually sorted out as has been communicated by Rojas, the Chairman of the Players Union. While the negotiations were ongoing, we took to FB to malign the sponsors, who to the best of my knowledge are here to help us grow this game that we love so much. Id like to take us back to rugby, just the other day, the players of the national sevens team were not happy about their contracts and their pay, at no point did we hear them scream out at KQ or at EABL for not having sorted them out. We need to realize that we will always have challenges and I as I always say, there is always a solution. We must start thinking like business men and realize that this game is a product. When we shoot ourselves, the world is watching and we are diminishing our value. Please do not get me wrong, I am not saying that we should not air our views when we feel aggrieved, I am just asking that we be civil in our undertakings and ensure that we are all building this game. Its taken rugby 10 years, maybe more to be where it is. But there was a group of those players that we never appreciate that got practically nothing and today we can celebrate the Khayanges, Injeras, Ademas. Maybe, just maybe we are that generation for basketball. I am not saying we should get nothing, but lets work together to move forward. Blame games and shouting matches will not solve our problems. I hope that we can move on from the failure of the all star taking place and look forward to the playoffs and work together to make them a success. Just a note, I was thoroughly impressed by the vigor and energy that guys put into the online voting. If we can put the same vigor into getting our pals to come and watch our regular games we can achieve s much. Thanks, ^CM
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 06:50:18 +0000
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