Racism. The hot topic in Australia and around the world after a host of police shootings of African American males. All around the “black lives matter” movement has taken on a whole new voice. It’s louder! As the world is fighting against racism unfortunately racism in sport continues. It’s not well publicised, but it is happening. As a person of colour (Sri Lankan decent), I have witness this first hand in Australia. I’d like to take a moment to discuss with you what I went through with racism and prejudice in basketball and how I handled it.
RMIT University Basketball Team
The university games in Australia is like a mini olympics for uni students that occurs every year. Where all universities in Australia compete over a week in all forms of sports. Basketball traditionally has seen a very high standard with rep basketball players from various clubs in Australia signing up to represent their university. When it was time to sign up for the university games I naturally went to sign up for basketball tryouts.
When I went to sign up at the university student union desk the lady behind the counter looked at me and said “You know that the basketball team is very good”. The way she said this to me was in a very condescending manner. She didn’t even want to give me the list to sign up until I told her that I was training with the Melbourne Tigers NBL team. Crazy! Bet a six foot something white guy wouldn’t have an issue.
Now, some people reading this article may think that I’m being a tad sensitive but isn’t it the coaches job to tell players if they are not good enough for the team? NOT the student union desk admin. I think this is a form of prejudice, the lady at the desk saw that I was a short guy that didn’t fit the profile of a basketball player. I know my ethnicity doesn’t serve me well at looking like a basketball player. Hey, I’ve had many a person think that I am a rugby player than a basketball player. But, haven’t we all been told to never judge a book by its cover?
A more serious form of Racism in Basketball
Every weekend I go down to Pakenham basketball stadium to get some scrimmages in with some of the Sudanese boys. All can play ball very well. In the year and a half that I have been going down and playing ball I have met some great kids, one of which is a 6’5” small forward that can put the ball on the floor, shoot the mid range shot and run the floor incredibly. Immensely athletic too! He even has a great coachable personality. This player will remain nameless so for the purposes of this article I’ll call him player A.
He was trying out for a rep team that plays out of Pakenham. I spent some time watching the scrimmages the team ran over the course of a few weeks. What I noticed was deeply troubling. The guy every single time down the floor didn’t get the ball. Initially I thought it was because the players on the team were inexperienced with poor court vision but when weeks became months when I saw this happen it became a worry. Especially with the coach not taking any action to correct these players.
It was evident that the issue of player A was not getting the ball was something more than inexperience with his teammates. I have to say it’s racism. It seems to me that the coach and the players don’t really want a black guy to do well on the court. Some might ask me, if the coach was racist why would he select him on the team in the first place? Simple, height! This particular coach selected him and ran him at the 5 spot when he clearly is a 3 man. I’ve seen this time and time again. African kids selected for height and told to get in the paint and rebound the ball and prevented from doing anything else.
What might be causing the issues of racism and prejudice in basketball
The root cause of racism and prejudice in basketball isn’t something that can easily be diagnosed as most of the bigots having these views are not open to honest dialogue. But, and I’m speculating here. There’s a few things that African basketball players and other coloured basketball players do that could be seen in a negative light to a coach.
There’s a real hip hop culture associated with basketball and coloured people identify themselves with this hip hop culture. Generally speaking, when African’s come to play basketball they all seem to be acting like black American’s. American accents, the clothes, the swagger. All these to a coach is annoying! Coaches do not want a hip hop star, they want a basketball player that is coachable.
If you are on of these players please lose the attitude. YOU ARE NOT AMERICAN! Most of these African basketball players haven’t even been to USA. If you want to play basketball at a high level you need to act professionally. Approach it like a job, not a fashion show. Personally, if I was running a team and a group of idiots with this attitude came to me I’d send them home even before they could set foot on the court.
PLAY THE SPORT NOT THE SHOW!
My final thoughts
Racism is apart of society all around the world and it will forever be apart of society I’m afraid. This article isn’t about fixing racism, but it is to serve as advice on how to deal with it when playing basketball.
If you believe you are a victim of racism I strongly urge you to write down on a piece of paper what happened to make you feel this way. Then speak to someone else about it. Sometimes our emotions can get the better of us so it’s always good to get a second opinion. If then you believe that you are not getting a chance due to racism, move clubs immediately. Do not take the season off, ask other clubs if you can even train with the team if you have to, but do not quit all together. If you do that, they win!
If you believe the leagues in your country are racist, firstly I think there’s a problem with you. Not all basketball clubs are racist. BUT there is an alternative if you really feel this way. Go overseas and play ball. I’ve played in the US and UK and never had an issue with racism in basketball. Maybe a bit of prejudice because of my hight but they never excluded me. Here’s an article to get your started on your search for a team overseas.
When I wrote this article I wasn’t trying to capitalise on the wave of emotion sweeping the world. I’m just troubled that there are talented African basketball players all complaining that they can’t get a game because of racism and prejudice. I have seen some truth to these accusation. I really hope one day racism will vanish but I can’t see that happening in my lifetime. For now, it is important that racism doesn’t control your life and kill your dream.
Stay strong and keep ballin!
