Is too much sport ever enough?
When you look at the games that never quite caught on, the answer must be yes.
I read an online article recently about the dire performance of the Brisbane Bullets and my first reaction was: the Brisbane Bullets still exist?
I remember a time when basketball was going to be the next big thing in Australian sport. Leroy Loggins and Derek Rucker, the Bullets’ American imports, were superstars in their adopted hometown back in the day.
The National Basketball League was a big thing in the 1980s, and by the latter half of that decade the Bullets were playing in front of crowds of up to 13,000 people at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre (where there’s still a statue of Loggins).
Wikipedia informs me that they now share the 5,000-capacity Queensland State Netball Centre, a.k.a. Nissan Arena in Nathan.
There’s a video here of the 1985 grand final, which the Bullets won and is worth having a brief look at if you’re nostalgic for big hairdos and sponsors such as TAA and Foster’s.
Basketball occasionally attracts headlines, usually around Olympics time when, for some reason, we are suddenly passionate about games we’d normally not cross the road to see. But for the most part, it’s very much a minority sport in Australia.
Whatever happened to basketball in Australia also happened to that other great American sport, baseball — although it didn’t shine as bright or as long.
Some friends of mine were fans of the Brisbane Bandits, and I once went to a game with them. Maybe it was the late 80s or early 90s.
My overarching memory is that many people in the crowd (and, arguably, some on the field of play) didn’t understand the rules. The ground announcer had to explain what was going on, which was simultaneously bemusing and distracting.
As I remember it, it went to seven innings which, to me, was a very long time. I’ve since heard that the average is nine innings and, technically, a game can go on forever. Or maybe it just seems that way.
This all raises the question: why do sports that are absolutely huge in some parts of the world get lost in translation elsewhere?
It also makes me wonder how long our collective fascination with women’s football will continue, now that memories of the Matildas’ gutsy World Cup campaign are fading fast, despite it being just two months ago.
Maybe there is room for change and the door is open for the world game to make a lasting impression in a land where Australian Football and Rugby League reign supreme.
After all, I’m reliably informed by someone who cares that given our disastrous performance in the “unloseable” early games of the World Cup, rugby union is now dead in Australia.
Footnote: Yes, I know some sports are extremely popular at ground level, and it can be argued that a lack of media coverage is holding them back in terms of widespread exposure. Given that it’s not an equal playing field, what can be done to help them break through?
SECRET BRISBANE
I walk past this building several times a week and I know a little bit about it. If you can tell me more before an extended item appears in a future edition of Mister Brisbane, please do so.