British Level 2 Basketball coach here - So for the first half of the video I thought you were gonna completely miss the main issue, but in the second half you nailed it. It's got zero to do with potential talent of players, initial desire for participation or level of coaching, but all to do with government and sporting bodies funding. In fact recently we lost our regular training slot to a fully funded netball program whilst our hall costs went up. Kids and adults across the whole of the UK love the sport, but until the higher ups give it the same funding and attention, we'll forever be stuck in this cycle.
If the NBA succeeded on their wemby project, I'm sure Europe will get more games soon. Don't know if England has the infrastructure to host an NBA game though.
@jasonebi7308 I don't know the viability of these global league rumours we've heard thrown about if that's what you mean but we definitely have the capacity as the NBA has games in London every single year for the past however long. Which by the way, sell out every time, but higher ups insist there's no interest for basketball here 🤷🏼♂️
@@jasonebi7308 it's not always about the NBA. There is basketball outside the NBA and the British are bad even by those standards. At this point British talent isn't even up to European standards, let alone NBA standards. Let them get on par with other European countries first and then we can talk about the NBA.
Are there really better opportunities for young Serbians, French, Spaniards, and Lithuanians than young English lads though? I don’t think so. So it’s an interesting mystery why British are not as represented in the NBA
@gj1234567899999 I've played basketball my entire life in Britain and in the small time I've been in places such as Lisbon and Amsterdam I saw more basketball facilities then I ever have in the uk. There is also the fact are government absolutely refuses to fund basketball no matter the amount of people that play I don't know why you would say something so braindead
@gj1234567899999 Absolutely. You got school of basketball for children at basically every elementary school in Serbia (I'm from Serbia). Perhaps those halls where they play are not in accordance to standard court dimensions, but that is not the point even. When kids start learning basketball its all about developing all around techniques because at that stage you never know if someone will be 6 feet or 7 feet tall. Tactics and specialized techniques comes later when a kid is already at the end of his growth spurt.
You know its bad when Britain's former best player Luol Deng formed the South Sudanese (a country that didn't exist 20 years ago) squad that only lost to the USA national team cuz LeBron channeled his inner "George Washington leading his men down the Deleware" and carried them to victory
i disagree i would say philippines, as a Filipino basketball is a religion and we are the most crazed basketball country in asia other than China. Yet no Nba player and barely won anything
@@jmgonzales7701huh? would you tell a half Nigerian that he’s not Nigerian? what sense does that make? Jordan even plays for the Philippines national team dude…
W video I've been saying this for a long time, the Euroleague needs to tap into the British market instead of expanding a team to Dubai. The potential is there but no one is tapping into it.
The comparisson gets even worse when you look at European basketball. Spain, France, Germany, Serbia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lithuania and others produce lots of talent and have teams in the Euroleague. The UK has almost no players and not one team in Euroleague.
Another problem you missed is the lach of infastructure, living in the UK I know that outdoor hoops are either non-existent, badly made (wrong height etc), or in bad condition. Without outdoor courts to play you either need to have your own hoop (expensive), or book a gym (expensive). Great video though
Theres no funding crucially, indoor courts are very expensive no deals are given to charitys either even schools mostly have basketball courts but the insurance and supervisors are very expensive. Secondly the bad weather combined with a lack of decent outdoor courts means unless its summer virtually no one is playing basketball in the uk in the winter and spring
@@bg357wg yeah but football is supposed to be played outdoors. its a lot easier to slip without studs on your shoe's sole playing in the grass. and it might just be me, but i hate bouncing a ball when its raining and getting my hand all dirty
@@ragomonkey except the US is doing decently well at soccer development and has made every World Cup since 1990 with 2018 being the only exception. MLS also is pretty healthy and has a streaming deal (albeit it’s iffy). UK basketball on the other hand is a mess that unless the government shows effort in helping clean up will not go anywhere. The national team has not really made it to many big tournaments outside of EuroBasket.
@Immaculatevibesonly no one really goes to the park and plays casual tennis and definitely not casual rugby. When comparing tennis and basketball the reason its probably played more is cause in tennis max 4 people can be on the court as apposed to 10 (usually 8 for casual play) in basketball
British basketball fan and someone who worked in the BBL here. Really well made/informed video. I did a dissertation on British basketball and you hit all of the main issues. Sadly Britain in its roots is a deeply racist country and giving money to minorities that play basketball is not something people will support or be prepared to wait for the rewards. Football is in its own universe, rugby and cricket are both British sports so basketball will never get the attention it deserves. It could explode here, there's so much appetite and I really hope it does. Another problem is owners of bbl teams give it a go for a few years, get bored and teams end up going bankrupt which makes the whole league so unsustainable
American here. I lived in London for 6 months when I was 12. I was never good at basketball, always a below average player, never played anything outside of pickup at the park. When I got to England I was the best basketball player in the entire grade. Kids there just aren't interested in it.
That was back in the day, people are interested there just isn’t much incentive for them to pursue it because they’re are barely any good courts or other players
at this point, I start to think that basketball in UK is being sabotaged out of principle. London Lions were doing so well, they were a footstep away from Euroleague, which would have been crazy. All the best teams would have been visiting London, and that's exactly what Euroleague wanted as well - a big city market. Then, all of a sudden the league goes bankrupt. How strange is that, and it's the second time happening.
The league went bankrupt because 777 Partners are, depending on who you ask, a Ponzi scheme interested in money laundering, racketeering and people trafficking. Given they have been exposed by multiple people and their empire is tumbling, the only way to get them out of the game was to strip the BBL of its license and start a new league. That's what they've done and things have returned to how they were before the clubs sold 45% of the league to 777.
@@SI-cd7xsI’m sure he was talking about the peak in the 90s and 2000s. I was shocked London didn’t have a team. And yeah as others said soccer can’t be used as an excuse since places like France, Spain, Germany, and Italy prove you can have both.
@ basketball is being sabotaged because it's not a british sport. In Spain for example it's a top sport among tennis and football. Whereas in UK, the priority is given to rugby, cricket, snooker and even darts.
Maybe the problem with the British basketball league was not the contract, it was the league itself. The fact that they play in Europe, but have American style league. Sharks vs Giants? This is a mockery of American basketball. In European countries with good basketball programs, their top sports clubs have football and basketball teams. In Spain you get Real Madrid and Barcelona, in Serbia you get Red Star and Partizan, in Greece you get Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. If there was basketball league with Manchester United and Liverpool basketball teams, that would be way more successful. They could recruit better talent and negotiate involment in continental competitions.
OG Anunoby is British and essentially the best British player. He came over from Britain and has said himself that he wants to be a pioneer and inspiration for other British kids. He even a minority stake owner of the London basketball club. So they can produce players. But there's no infrastructure, promotion and support for the sport.
Also important to mention that the lack of funding means there are very few indoor courts. Something that matters more in the UK than most other countries in Europe / North America because of how much rain we get
Few Indoor courts? How did you even say that? Nearly every leisure center with a sports hall has in indoor court. Most senior schools and colleges with a sports hall have a court. There are out door courts everywhere. It's just not a popular sport. More people in the UK watch ice hockey in the uk than basketball with way less than 1% of the available venues to play or train
@@chrisdouglas1158 No sure where you’re getting your figures from. No leisure centres near me have a court. You’re right that most schools do but those are typically just for use in PE lessons and not for use outside of school hours
@JakeBayley but it's still more than most sports. Anywhere where there is indoor netball there is generally I indoor basketball. Plus outdoor courts in parks.
Do a video on why the US sucks at "soccer" next. The size of the country doesn't matter, the interest in the support does. No one cares about or plays basketball here. Also Basketball is nowhere near the second biggest sport.
With the strangle hold the Premier league has over fan attention, it's difficult for even established sports like Rugby and Cricket to compete. The Super league (division 1 rugby) teams can't even pay their non playing staff properly, and the league always seems to be teetering on bankruptcy. Basketball just doesn't have a chance in our market, especially when the demand that there is, is sweaped up entirely by the NBA. It's an ugly situation, and the government should be doing more, but it's never going to be a priority.
in December 2024, UK Sport announced a significant increase in funding for basketball, more than doubling the previous allocation for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle.
The ruling class of Britain does/will not fund grass root sports. It goes to their friends and families posh sports. Where due to a lack of talent pool/participants they can be in the olympics. - Horse riding events, sailing. etc. Even if athletes does not perform their sport will receive funding.
One massive problem growing up is the lack of access to teams, where I’ve grown up in the UK, there was never a team to join… school basketball is completely lost on us and likewise outside of school you can’t join a basketball team. Even if your area has a club chances are you’re the only club within 50-100 miles. You’re more likely to find females playing Basketball to a competitive standard, but even then there’s netball which is more popular..
It's mainly because of the Commonwealth. Rugby, cricket, and netball have to subsidies heavily as otherwise basketball would easily take over. Same in Australia and New Zealand.
I watched the national British team and was pleasingly surprised about how skilled they were. In the past it took a while for basketball historically to advance since some associated basketball with the women's variant Netball. It took the US awhile to have a Footy culture but in terms of talent - if not business organization - Britain could catch up in the next five years. Getting more financial support though will be key.
No actually ,Britain has great talent for basketball but government doesn't recognise that. There's a talent from all around the world but there isn't many clubs with their own facilities for training . What I've seen so far in my 25 years living in UK basketball is very underfunded and not once I have seen some advertisement for basketball .
its so hard to get any sort of recognition here as so little people look at the uk for basketball. Even if you are good its very hard to get recognised and have a chance at the nba or euroleague
In most of Europe, Basketball fills the “indoor team sport” niche. Bball doesn’t have to compete for venues with football like NFL or Rugby does and is different enough in structure/pace to attract crowds. Basketball is super or very popular in countries like Lithuania, Greece, Russia, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Turkey and somewhat popular in France . In Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia etc where handball and ice hockey fill the indoor niche much better it isn’t popular at all. One of the reasons it is only moderately popular in Germany because there is competition (handball etc).
Don't want to be a hater but honestly you can't start a video with saying that basketball is the second most popular sport in Britian. Is not close to the second spot and it's hard for basketball to get even into top 10 in any year.
Football is obviously 1st but then Rugby Union, Rugby League, Cricket, Darts, Tennis, Snooker, F1, Golf, Moto GP, Horse Racing are all definitely more popular than Basketball. The NFL has probably overtaken Basketball now
I think we're at the start of a cycle, basketball fandom is on the rise here but it will take 10-15 years for the funding infrastructure to progress to the point where we can produce NBA level talent
Just need to get those old wankers from their positions who administrate the funding and think basketball is not a british sport, so won't receive the funding.
Representing Cape Verde here, we might have an island population of 600k but most Cape Verdeans don’t live in the islands they live in places like Portugal, U.S and France.
Certainly our issues with developing more elite talent and having a commercially successful professional league go beyond just lack of funding. There is certainly cause for optimism though and we are doing our best to be part of the change!
I'm English and used to go to an afterschool basketball club ran by 2 US Air Force guys. I didn't appreciate how truely awful we were as kids until I got a bit older. Those guys had saintly patience to put up with how bad we were. Sadly the club ended after they got deployed.
Good vid, but the fact that cape verde is a small country dont mean nothing. We arent the best but we still try to enjoy the game. (we got a few solid players like Tavares or Marcus)
When I was 18 (I'm 41 now), the regional basketball scene was gatekept by a pedaphile ring. Many good players were left out of important squads because they weren't liked by the pedaphiles that controlled it. I even played against the team coached by the pedaphiles in a championship game and beat them despite them having multiple England internationals. These players weren't good, I wonder what they did to get on the team...I've noticed many times how there's some incredible players but don't ever get a sniff of an opportunity and then when I see top players, I wonder why they are elevated so easily (overated). The rest of your video makes a lot of sense also but I thought I'd disclose this other reason. I don't know if it's still going on today or who is in control of things now but back then, I was quite close to this whole scene and had many friends in and around them and what went on.
It’s because the Olympic funding was slashed as it’s a working class sport and they’d rather we excel at upper class sports like equestrian, tennis, rowing, etc. it’s sad given the sport’s popularity. Edit: wrote this before watching the video and you hit the nail on the head!
Quid is more casual, so, giving your mate a fiver or what not. Whereas sums as big as £22,000,000 tend to only be spoken by professionals. So... Well, Pounds or Pounds Sterling will get used. Get what you mean, though.
That’s according to Basketball England figures. Amounts to less than 1% of the UK population. Bear in mind badminton has over 3million weekly participants in the UK over 16.
I used to live in England and I barely saw any basketball courts anywhere. Even in my home country of Bulgaria pretty much every school has an outdoor court
idc what your survey says, basketball is not popular in britain. also the narrative that there is no funding is also bullshit. Here in London there are so many basketball courts even though it was never that popular, they were built in the 90s because theyre cheaper and smaller than football cages and make less noise and it was assumed that basketball would be big but it never happened
@@sahulianhooligan7046 nope, basketball was actually more popular in the 90s. These days the nba isn’t even that hot in America. NFL blew past the NBA in the UK.
Weird race comments at 2:06, as if basketball skill is an innate genetic ability decided by a person's race. We see one racial group appear more in the NBA due to socio-economic and cultural factors (which arose from racial discrimination in America).
It's not completely unbased. In professional basketball height is one of the major factors in to whether a player gets a chance at all. In no other sport can a 16 year old with very little experience get millions of dollars in pay and training because of their height and athleticism.
Yes, height is a genetic trait from parent to child. However, as a population or race (keeping the fact that race is a social category and not a genetic one, let's say instead you're considering a country like the Netherlands), height has mainly been tied to a country's development and its diet. The average dutch man has not been 6 feet tall since forever, average height of a Dutch man pre-1850 is 5 5. Their average height was shorter than Americans before their development (kids now eat better, don't fall sick as often, get enough sleep, etc.) and their heavy dairy (protein) based diet increased their height over generations. If you don't want to believe that or the data supporting that, you can also consider the same racial groups living in different countries. Indians raised in India are, on average, shorter than Indians raised in America even though racially they are exactly the same. All that aside, I also think you can be a great basketball player if you're short (Bogues, Iverson, Kawamura). It's just that it's clearly better to be just as good but taller so I think shorter basketball players get less support as they grow up.
Baskestball is a sport that selects for height and wingspan and vertical leap. The reason Black people are more likely to be good basketball players are due to anthropological factors. We are descended from Africa, which has a hot climate. Long limbs were developed as a way to cool the body more efficiently, but it also helps with wingspan and vertical leap. 3 point shooting, on the other hand, selects for "negative wingspan", which is more common among Europeans because they are descended from a cold place and it keeps their body warmer. As a result of anthropology, Black players will generally be the dominant population in the sport, but White players will always exist and be important members (and sometimes the best player like Jokić) of the sport.
3:23 Jeremy was born in Oklahoma and played basketball for a Germain club before playing college basketball for Baylor.. He is NOT English he's Polish-American who went to play basketball at a young age for Germany
You’re correct but also very ill informed. Jeremy absolutely came up and developed through the UK system… The UK system actually has a steady stream of talent that goes to the states every year. There are also thousands of UK players playing pro around Europe. Jeremy Sochan moved to the UK when he was very young, started playing in Milton Keynes for a team where his Mum was the coach. He then progressed to the Solent Kestrels programme (Southampton) where he would be called up for the England National Junior teams. He then moved to a high school in the US but Covid forced that opportunity to stop. It’s after this that he joined the Orange Academy in Germany where he would then be recruited to Baylor. It’s a shame our UK government fumbled his senior passport otherwise he would be playing for Great Britain. We’ve always struggled with real skilled big men. While Tosan Evbuomwan is our latest guy to break the NBA (he took the long grinding route and is now getting his flowers since playing in Brooklyn), what I’m more excited about is there are also more British players in the NCAA than ever before. I believe almost 100 men & women across the divisions. Most notably at the moment Cameron Hildreth (captain @ Wake Forrest), Great Osobor (MWC POTY with Utah State, now transferred to Washington State with a £2M NIL deal), Tobi Lawal (Virginia Tech, one of the most gifted athletes in all of college ball).
@@kingdave855 it isnt. multiple comments in here calling that out. the survey source was some england basketball org tryna get funding from the government clearly lying about how popular the sport is for money.
Good research. The talent exists. I've spoken to people that have got to play for American colleges. It's mostly a summer sport because indoor gyms are expensive.
It's the same why China is bad at basketball, millions of people play but sports body decided they won't win medals. So they focus on things like diving
Australia plays pretty much most of the same Sports England plays but yet the Aussies have have invested heavily into their Basketball and has produced several players👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Sport England did for a while fund the basketball for Olympic cycles but underdelivered, where rowing, gymnastics equestrian all took off and started providing success, the governing body of British basketball achieved failure after failure until 2012 and they were given one last chance to do something but did nothing. They didn't deserve the funding after the years of failure
Technically Netball was created before Basketball . Just saying but yeah it’s sad how the Government disregards Basketball especially when other teams in Europe have gotten better at Basketball. Even Belgium is putting more players out there despite the fact the national team hasn’t done that well in anything. Poland and Czech Republic even got to the Quarterfinals of the World Cup a few years ago and they barely have had a few guys playing in the NBA.
There’s nowhere to play in uk unless outdoor, indoors is so expensive. Outdoor courts are shabby, the uk is not built for b ball yet. Where’s Spain and Greece there’s a court every couple of blocks
Great Britain wheelchair basketball are ranked in the top 3 in the World but get no support, the British league has no professional structure so all the top talent plays in Europe, basketball is run so poorly in this country
Another a bit problem I find is I’m in wales and we just have outside courts. Our weather is shi 70% of the year, the courts just slippery when they wet or icy. If we do have some indoor courts you gotta book and pay n it’s not worth paying is much for jsit the two of you. It’s the same with football too as a kid we had too many games called of due the waterlogged pitches.
In order to be good at any sport as a nation, you must have quality coaching staff for all stages of players development. It is not all about the money, being from Serbia, where funding was very often scarce; we never stopped producing great basketball talent. It is also a cultural thing; they maybe like the sport, but they don't have passion for it, and give up easily when they don't see financial incentives right away. Without quality expertise and a lack of motivation, there is only one outcome.
I dont know about Scotland, England or Northern Ireland, but In Wales, you will really struggle to find anyone who plays, watches, keeps up with or pursues basketball. Nobody here cares about basketball, we only have a population of 3 million, Basketball isn’t even close to being the most popular sport here.
Trophies is irrelevant when you’re talking about talent. Greece, Portugal both won the Euros with squads no where near England’s. Netherlands is the same, they have only won once and it was the Euros back in 1988 but produce more talent than Italy for instance. England produce more footballing talent than any other nation, that doesn’t guarantee trophies. There’s a reason why they got to back to back finals, it’s the other factors that cost them such as management and being in a league which is flooded with foreign players and managers, they have no identity because of this. When English managers were given opportunities, they had success. Clough, Paisley and Robson for instance all won European trophies.
You could maybe compare the situation to “soccer” in the US. Imagine if nfl didn’t exist , you’d have a lot more of americas elite athletes being shaped into soccer players. Likewise with the uk , it doesn’t matter if someone is 6 ft 5 so likely the perfect basketball player build.. they’ll just become a striker in football or a centre back, or rugby will steal the talent too
British Level 2 Basketball coach here -
So for the first half of the video I thought you were gonna completely miss the main issue, but in the second half you nailed it.
It's got zero to do with potential talent of players, initial desire for participation or level of coaching, but all to do with government and sporting bodies funding. In fact recently we lost our regular training slot to a fully funded netball program whilst our hall costs went up.
Kids and adults across the whole of the UK love the sport, but until the higher ups give it the same funding and attention, we'll forever be stuck in this cycle.
If the NBA succeeded on their wemby project, I'm sure Europe will get more games soon. Don't know if England has the infrastructure to host an NBA game though.
@jasonebi7308 I don't know the viability of these global league rumours we've heard thrown about if that's what you mean but we definitely have the capacity as the NBA has games in London every single year for the past however long.
Which by the way, sell out every time, but higher ups insist there's no interest for basketball here 🤷🏼♂️
Bullshit. Australia also has shit funding but come up with nba players and champions
It's talent too...we will smoke you know matter what support ya get tbh.
@@jasonebi7308 it's not always about the NBA. There is basketball outside the NBA and the British are bad even by those standards. At this point British talent isn't even up to European standards, let alone NBA standards.
Let them get on par with other European countries first and then we can talk about the NBA.
There’s actually a great deal of people who play basketball here but there’s just not as much opportunities as noone cares it’s sad smh
football just has better oppurtunities
Are there really better opportunities for young Serbians, French, Spaniards, and Lithuanians than young English lads though? I don’t think so. So it’s an interesting mystery why British are not as represented in the NBA
Coaching is terrible in the UK, no funding, we develop players like the US, even though Europe has shown us how to develop players properly.
@gj1234567899999 I've played basketball my entire life in Britain and in the small time I've been in places such as Lisbon and Amsterdam I saw more basketball facilities then I ever have in the uk. There is also the fact are government absolutely refuses to fund basketball no matter the amount of people that play I don't know why you would say something so braindead
@gj1234567899999 Absolutely. You got school of basketball for children at basically every elementary school in Serbia (I'm from Serbia). Perhaps those halls where they play are not in accordance to standard court dimensions, but that is not the point even. When kids start learning basketball its all about developing all around techniques because at that stage you never know if someone will be 6 feet or 7 feet tall. Tactics and specialized techniques comes later when a kid is already at the end of his growth spurt.
You know its bad when Britain's former best player Luol Deng formed the South Sudanese (a country that didn't exist 20 years ago) squad that only lost to the USA national team cuz LeBron channeled his inner "George Washington leading his men down the Deleware" and carried them to victory
They have og anunoby ben gordon kellena azibuike
@@DeAnthonyWhitley Wow I'm sure OG Anunoby will do so much for us
@CarmeloAnthonyLover it's better than nothing
British Basketball as a whole is the saddest story in the world of basketball.
i disagree i would say philippines, as a Filipino basketball is a religion and we are the most crazed basketball country in asia other than China. Yet no Nba player and barely won anything
@@jmgonzales7701 no offence but Filipino are mad short
@@jmgonzales7701 jordan clarkson is fillipino
@xelaki9360 he is only half filipino. Doesnt count.
@@jmgonzales7701huh? would you tell a half Nigerian that he’s not Nigerian? what sense does that make? Jordan even plays for the Philippines national team dude…
W video
I've been saying this for a long time, the Euroleague needs to tap into the British market instead of expanding a team to Dubai. The potential is there but no one is tapping into it.
they were, and London Lions were a footstep away from Euroleague. But what can you do if BBL just went bankrupt
The comparisson gets even worse when you look at European basketball. Spain, France, Germany, Serbia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lithuania and others produce lots of talent and have teams in the Euroleague. The UK has almost no players and not one team in Euroleague.
The London lions have been capable a couple times but there's just not the funding to keep players good enough
Another problem you missed is the lach of infastructure, living in the UK I know that outdoor hoops are either non-existent, badly made (wrong height etc), or in bad condition.
Without outdoor courts to play you either need to have your own hoop (expensive), or book a gym (expensive). Great video though
Theres no funding crucially, indoor courts are very expensive no deals are given to charitys either even schools mostly have basketball courts but the insurance and supervisors are very expensive. Secondly the bad weather combined with a lack of decent outdoor courts means unless its summer virtually no one is playing basketball in the uk in the winter and spring
But wouldn’t the weather affect football more since the fields are more often outdoors?
@@bg357wg yeah but football is supposed to be played outdoors. its a lot easier to slip without studs on your shoe's sole playing in the grass. and it might just be me, but i hate bouncing a ball when its raining and getting my hand all dirty
you would think because of the bad weather, they'd be focused more on indoor sports as opposed to soccer
Outdoor pavilions are the easiest solution
@@JROB447If you mean covered sheltered outdoor courts I agree. Extremely popular in the Philippines.
BBC and BBL are associated to Britian 😭😭very unserious country
Britain is bad at basketball because they named their basketball league BBL
They had to honor Kyle Lowry
Britain in basketball is like America in Football
@@ragomonkey except the US is doing decently well at soccer development and has made every World Cup since 1990 with 2018 being the only exception. MLS also is pretty healthy and has a streaming deal (albeit it’s iffy).
UK basketball on the other hand is a mess that unless the government shows effort in helping clean up will not go anywhere. The national team has not really made it to many big tournaments outside of EuroBasket.
I love basketball, but it is NOT the second most popular sport in the UK.
It is by participation
It's not even close, I read 300,000 people play twice a month in the UK. Rugby and cricket are definitely bigger and there's probably more
@@TSH-sx3ec Tennis is for sure bigger, too. I agree with his overall point, but 2nd most popular sport is so wrong
@Immaculatevibesonly no one really goes to the park and plays casual tennis and definitely not casual rugby. When comparing tennis and basketball the reason its probably played more is cause in tennis max 4 people can be on the court as apposed to 10 (usually 8 for casual play) in basketball
@@TSH-sx3ec 233,000 adults play rugby twice a month and 181,000 cricket. You didn't even complete your research before you started yappin
Same with the Netherlands 😭 tallest country on earth but next to nothing in nba talent
Rik Smits!
They had a player get drafted in the 2024 draft at least
@@matmat6031 Pacer legend!!!
@@TokyoBalletReprise yeah finally after 12 years 😂😂
Francisco Elson is from there... He won it all with the San Antonio Spurs back in the day...
British basketball fan and someone who worked in the BBL here. Really well made/informed video. I did a dissertation on British basketball and you hit all of the main issues. Sadly Britain in its roots is a deeply racist country and giving money to minorities that play basketball is not something people will support or be prepared to wait for the rewards. Football is in its own universe, rugby and cricket are both British sports so basketball will never get the attention it deserves. It could explode here, there's so much appetite and I really hope it does. Another problem is owners of bbl teams give it a go for a few years, get bored and teams end up going bankrupt which makes the whole league so unsustainable
Gfy this isn't a race issue
It’s a class issue over a racial one although i suspect the racial aspect is some part of why the working classes get done dirty every time
something id like to also mention at 1:38 is that other "football" countries outside of europe are good at basketball like brazil and Argentina too
American here. I lived in London for 6 months when I was 12. I was never good at basketball, always a below average player, never played anything outside of pickup at the park. When I got to England I was the best basketball player in the entire grade. Kids there just aren't interested in it.
That was back in the day, people are interested there just isn’t much incentive for them to pursue it because they’re are barely any good courts or other players
I don’t know anyone that’s interested in basketball
at this point, I start to think that basketball in UK is being sabotaged out of principle. London Lions were doing so well, they were a footstep away from Euroleague, which would have been crazy. All the best teams would have been visiting London, and that's exactly what Euroleague wanted as well - a big city market. Then, all of a sudden the league goes bankrupt. How strange is that, and it's the second time happening.
theyre in a city of 9 million and average like 200 ppl at their games. uk does not care about basketball.
The league went bankrupt because 777 Partners are, depending on who you ask, a Ponzi scheme interested in money laundering, racketeering and people trafficking. Given they have been exposed by multiple people and their empire is tumbling, the only way to get them out of the game was to strip the BBL of its license and start a new league. That's what they've done and things have returned to how they were before the clubs sold 45% of the league to 777.
@@SI-cd7xsI’m sure he was talking about the peak in the 90s and 2000s. I was shocked London didn’t have a team. And yeah as others said soccer can’t be used as an excuse since places like France, Spain, Germany, and Italy prove you can have both.
@ basketball is being sabotaged because it's not a british sport. In Spain for example it's a top sport among tennis and football. Whereas in UK, the priority is given to rugby, cricket, snooker and even darts.
@ France Spain Italy and Germany don’t also have cricket, rugby and boxing. It’s not just football.
Maybe the problem with the British basketball league was not the contract, it was the league itself. The fact that they play in Europe, but have American style league. Sharks vs Giants? This is a mockery of American basketball. In European countries with good basketball programs, their top sports clubs have football and basketball teams. In Spain you get Real Madrid and Barcelona, in Serbia you get Red Star and Partizan, in Greece you get Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. If there was basketball league with Manchester United and Liverpool basketball teams, that would be way more successful. They could recruit better talent and negotiate involment in continental competitions.
You gave 4 examples. Now do the German and Italian teams. Olympiad Milano is not AC Milan
But this was never the case for British sport. In Rugby they do not have the Manchester United or Liverpool.
@mechkota Rugby is local sport. Rugby teams have their own traditions.
OG Anunoby is British and essentially the best British player. He came over from Britain and has said himself that he wants to be a pioneer and inspiration for other British kids.
He even a minority stake owner of the London basketball club.
So they can produce players. But there's no infrastructure, promotion and support for the sport.
that "Tottenham timing" line =)))
The Brits are crazy about soccer,not basketball.
Also important to mention that the lack of funding means there are very few indoor courts. Something that matters more in the UK than most other countries in Europe / North America because of how much rain we get
I will never get how can anyone live in such a climate, I would be depressed ALL the time.
Few Indoor courts? How did you even say that?
Nearly every leisure center with a sports hall has in indoor court.
Most senior schools and colleges with a sports hall have a court.
There are out door courts everywhere.
It's just not a popular sport.
More people in the UK watch ice hockey in the uk than basketball with way less than 1% of the available venues to play or train
@@chrisdouglas1158 No sure where you’re getting your figures from. No leisure centres near me have a court. You’re right that most schools do but those are typically just for use in PE lessons and not for use outside of school hours
@@chrisdouglas1158 Generally there is an indoor court that can be used for basketball but it always busy being used for literally any other sport
@JakeBayley but it's still more than most sports.
Anywhere where there is indoor netball there is generally I indoor basketball.
Plus outdoor courts in parks.
Do a video on why the US sucks at "soccer" next.
The size of the country doesn't matter, the interest in the support does.
No one cares about or plays basketball here. Also Basketball is nowhere near the second biggest sport.
Wow very well made video and we all learnt a lot from it, I hope funding and care for basketball improves and changes there. Thanks for the video!
With the strangle hold the Premier league has over fan attention, it's difficult for even established sports like Rugby and Cricket to compete. The Super league (division 1 rugby) teams can't even pay their non playing staff properly, and the league always seems to be teetering on bankruptcy. Basketball just doesn't have a chance in our market, especially when the demand that there is, is sweaped up entirely by the NBA. It's an ugly situation, and the government should be doing more, but it's never going to be a priority.
in December 2024, UK Sport announced a significant increase in funding for basketball, more than doubling the previous allocation for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle.
No funding and no money in it.
Take on Filipino basketball please! The channel has great potential.
Damn well made vid, u deserve a bunch more subs
John Amaechi represent
The ruling class of Britain does/will not fund grass root sports. It goes to their friends and families posh sports. Where due to a lack of talent pool/participants they can be in the olympics. - Horse riding events, sailing. etc. Even if athletes does not perform their sport will receive funding.
One massive problem growing up is the lack of access to teams, where I’ve grown up in the UK, there was never a team to join… school basketball is completely lost on us and likewise outside of school you can’t join a basketball team. Even if your area has a club chances are you’re the only club within 50-100 miles. You’re more likely to find females playing Basketball to a competitive standard, but even then there’s netball which is more popular..
It's mainly because of the Commonwealth. Rugby, cricket, and netball have to subsidies heavily as otherwise basketball would easily take over. Same in Australia and New Zealand.
Spot on commentary. Its so disappointing being British and loving Basketball. Hopefully it will change.
There’s loads of talent here. But no investment for development. The government doesn’t care about young people.
I have actually never thought of this, but yes, they are missing from all major competitions - good vid
I watched the national British team and was pleasingly surprised about how skilled they were. In the past it took a while for basketball historically to advance since some associated basketball with the women's variant Netball. It took the US awhile to have a Footy culture but in terms of talent - if not business organization - Britain could catch up in the next five years. Getting more financial support though will be key.
I don't UK cares about basketball if they are focused on the Premier League right now
OG ANUNOBY IS BRITISH AND IS VERY GOOD
he moved to missouri at 4
He is a product of the US development system and does not play for the UK national team. He is as british as Cam Thomas is japanese
@@acuothacuoth502 Where was he born though?
@@harrymail7 the uk but he lived there for two yrs
@@acuothacuoth502 So you're telling me he is British.
Keep making videos like this and your channel is going to blow up. Great insights, well argued, with data.
No actually ,Britain has great talent for basketball but government doesn't recognise that. There's a talent from all around the world but there isn't many clubs with their own facilities for training . What I've seen so far in my 25 years living in UK basketball is very underfunded and not once I have seen some advertisement for basketball .
Me from the UK my dream is to play for Britain basketball league and my other dream is to be in the nba
its so hard to get any sort of recognition here as so little people look at the uk for basketball. Even if you are good its very hard to get recognised and have a chance at the nba or euroleague
Why Britain should be good at basketball when they have 3-5 main sport to focus?
They suck at all of them anyways
@@drodrig1 They are actually pretty good at their sports but okay.
@@drodrig1 No they don't, not in rugby, football nor athletics.
In most of Europe, Basketball fills the “indoor team sport” niche. Bball doesn’t have to compete for venues with football like NFL or Rugby does and is different enough in structure/pace to attract crowds. Basketball is super or very popular in countries like Lithuania, Greece, Russia, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Turkey and somewhat popular in France . In Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia etc where handball and ice hockey fill the indoor niche much better it isn’t popular at all. One of the reasons it is only moderately popular in Germany because there is competition (handball etc).
For the prestige!
Don't want to be a hater but honestly you can't start a video with saying that basketball is the second most popular sport in Britian. Is not close to the second spot and it's hard for basketball to get even into top 10 in any year.
Football is obviously 1st but then Rugby Union, Rugby League, Cricket, Darts, Tennis, Snooker, F1, Golf, Moto GP, Horse Racing are all definitely more popular than Basketball. The NFL has probably overtaken Basketball now
He's not telling about popularity.. he tell participation..
Any tall kid starts at football
Bro where tf is all the subs
I think we're at the start of a cycle, basketball fandom is on the rise here but it will take 10-15 years for the funding infrastructure to progress to the point where we can produce NBA level talent
Just need to get those old wankers from their positions who administrate the funding and think basketball is not a british sport, so won't receive the funding.
Representing Cape Verde here, we might have an island population of 600k but most Cape Verdeans don’t live in the islands they live in places like Portugal, U.S and France.
Shout out to Walter Tavares though
ta boa nha man
Boston has a lot of CV hoopers
Japan's B league is very underrated
Certainly our issues with developing more elite talent and having a commercially successful professional league go beyond just lack of funding. There is certainly cause for optimism though and we are doing our best to be part of the change!
I'm English and used to go to an afterschool basketball club ran by 2 US Air Force guys. I didn't appreciate how truely awful we were as kids until I got a bit older. Those guys had saintly patience to put up with how bad we were. Sadly the club ended after they got deployed.
Good vid, but the fact that cape verde is a small country dont mean nothing.
We arent the best but we still try to enjoy the game. (we got a few solid players like Tavares or Marcus)
When I was 18 (I'm 41 now), the regional basketball scene was gatekept by a pedaphile ring. Many good players were left out of important squads because they weren't liked by the pedaphiles that controlled it. I even played against the team coached by the pedaphiles in a championship game and beat them despite them having multiple England internationals. These players weren't good, I wonder what they did to get on the team...I've noticed many times how there's some incredible players but don't ever get a sniff of an opportunity and then when I see top players, I wonder why they are elevated so easily (overated).
The rest of your video makes a lot of sense also but I thought I'd disclose this other reason.
I don't know if it's still going on today or who is in control of things now but back then, I was quite close to this whole scene and had many friends in and around them and what went on.
1:59 an NBA channel saying "Tottenham Timing" is hilarious! U know soccer really well, great research.
It’s because the Olympic funding was slashed as it’s a working class sport and they’d rather we excel at upper class sports like equestrian, tennis, rowing, etc. it’s sad given the sport’s popularity.
Edit: wrote this before watching the video and you hit the nail on the head!
You’re too talented, you finna blow up soon. 🔥
i always asked myself that thanks for making the video
As a brit why does 22 million quid sound weird, sounds normal for like 5 quid but 22 mil quid sounds off
Quid is more casual, so, giving your mate a fiver or what not. Whereas sums as big as £22,000,000 tend to only be spoken by professionals. So... Well, Pounds or Pounds Sterling will get used. Get what you mean, though.
I've always wondered about this. Thanks for this video keep it up
"In 2023, almost 300,000 adults aged 16 and older played basketball at least twice a month" there's no way basketball is as big in the UK as you said.
That’s according to Basketball England figures. Amounts to less than 1% of the UK population. Bear in mind badminton has over 3million weekly participants in the UK over 16.
OG Anunoby is British brotha.. lol
Awesome content kepp going bro❤
I used to live in England and I barely saw any basketball courts anywhere. Even in my home country of Bulgaria pretty much every school has an outdoor court
idc what your survey says, basketball is not popular in britain. also the narrative that there is no funding is also bullshit. Here in London there are so many basketball courts even though it was never that popular, they were built in the 90s because theyre cheaper and smaller than football cages and make less noise and it was assumed that basketball would be big but it never happened
That was a different demographic. Basketball is popular with the younger generation who are more exposed to American culture because of social media
@@sahulianhooligan7046 nope, basketball was actually more popular in the 90s. These days the nba isn’t even that hot in America. NFL blew past the NBA in the UK.
Weird race comments at 2:06, as if basketball skill is an innate genetic ability decided by a person's race. We see one racial group appear more in the NBA due to socio-economic and cultural factors (which arose from racial discrimination in America).
It's not completely unbased. In professional basketball height is one of the major factors in to whether a player gets a chance at all. In no other sport can a 16 year old with very little experience get millions of dollars in pay and training because of their height and athleticism.
Yes, height is a genetic trait from parent to child. However, as a population or race (keeping the fact that race is a social category and not a genetic one, let's say instead you're considering a country like the Netherlands), height has mainly been tied to a country's development and its diet. The average dutch man has not been 6 feet tall since forever, average height of a Dutch man pre-1850 is 5 5. Their average height was shorter than Americans before their development (kids now eat better, don't fall sick as often, get enough sleep, etc.) and their heavy dairy (protein) based diet increased their height over generations. If you don't want to believe that or the data supporting that, you can also consider the same racial groups living in different countries. Indians raised in India are, on average, shorter than Indians raised in America even though racially they are exactly the same. All that aside, I also think you can be a great basketball player if you're short (Bogues, Iverson, Kawamura). It's just that it's clearly better to be just as good but taller so I think shorter basketball players get less support as they grow up.
Baskestball is a sport that selects for height and wingspan and vertical leap. The reason Black people are more likely to be good basketball players are due to anthropological factors.
We are descended from Africa, which has a hot climate. Long limbs were developed as a way to cool the body more efficiently, but it also helps with wingspan and vertical leap.
3 point shooting, on the other hand, selects for "negative wingspan", which is more common among Europeans because they are descended from a cold place and it keeps their body warmer.
As a result of anthropology, Black players will generally be the dominant population in the sport, but White players will always exist and be important members (and sometimes the best player like Jokić) of the sport.
This is good. Kids should be playing footie anyway as that is the sport that matters to most people in the world and pays the most.
Good vid man
Spot on mate
3:23 Jeremy was born in Oklahoma and played basketball for a Germain club before playing college basketball for Baylor.. He is NOT English he's Polish-American who went to play basketball at a young age for Germany
You’re correct but also very ill informed. Jeremy absolutely came up and developed through the UK system… The UK system actually has a steady stream of talent that goes to the states every year. There are also thousands of UK players playing pro around Europe.
Jeremy Sochan moved to the UK when he was very young, started playing in Milton Keynes for a team where his Mum was the coach. He then progressed to the Solent Kestrels programme (Southampton) where he would be called up for the England National Junior teams.
He then moved to a high school in the US but Covid forced that opportunity to stop.
It’s after this that he joined the Orange Academy in Germany where he would then be recruited to Baylor.
It’s a shame our UK government fumbled his senior passport otherwise he would be playing for Great Britain. We’ve always struggled with real skilled big men.
While Tosan Evbuomwan is our latest guy to break the NBA (he took the long grinding route and is now getting his flowers since playing in Brooklyn), what I’m more excited about is there are also more British players in the NCAA than ever before. I believe almost 100 men & women across the divisions. Most notably at the moment Cameron Hildreth (captain @ Wake Forrest), Great Osobor (MWC POTY with Utah State, now transferred to Washington State with a £2M NIL deal), Tobi Lawal (Virginia Tech, one of the most gifted athletes in all of college ball).
@ you got the Jeremy sochan backstory saved in the notes app or sum?
i was your 1000th sub bro
To simply put it all the best basketball potential talent are playing football/soccer whilst those who weren’t as great opted to play basketball.
the short answer is we don't care about basketball
But that's a lie just listen to the video it's literally the second most played sport in the country
@@kingdave855 it isnt. multiple comments in here calling that out. the survey source was some england basketball org tryna get funding from the government clearly lying about how popular the sport is for money.
Nah ya all don't care cause you suck at it
Funny that, as an Australian. I would say that brits love "soccer" not football. as AFL is football here. forever and ever.
At least Tosan has been looking good for Brooklyn
Good research. The talent exists. I've spoken to people that have got to play for American colleges. It's mostly a summer sport because indoor gyms are expensive.
Because they're not West African like 98% of the NBA
Spain has had a lot of very good white players
OG Anunoby and Nikola Jovic are both current british players
I try to play as much as I can but the courts are shit in my area man 😭
It's the same why China is bad at basketball, millions of people play but sports body decided they won't win medals. So they focus on things like diving
This video was so spot on.
Australia plays pretty much most of the same Sports England plays but yet the Aussies have have invested heavily into their Basketball and has produced several players👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Sport England did for a while fund the basketball for Olympic cycles but underdelivered, where rowing, gymnastics equestrian all took off and started providing success, the governing body of British basketball achieved failure after failure until 2012 and they were given one last chance to do something but did nothing. They didn't deserve the funding after the years of failure
Technically Netball was created before Basketball . Just saying but yeah it’s sad how the Government disregards Basketball especially when other teams in Europe have gotten better at Basketball. Even Belgium is putting more players out there despite the fact the national team hasn’t done that well in anything. Poland and Czech Republic even got to the Quarterfinals of the World Cup a few years ago and they barely have had a few guys playing in the NBA.
There’s nowhere to play in uk unless outdoor, indoors is so expensive. Outdoor courts are shabby, the uk is not built for b ball yet. Where’s Spain and Greece there’s a court every couple of blocks
Great Britain wheelchair basketball are ranked in the top 3 in the World but get no support, the British league has no professional structure so all the top talent plays in Europe, basketball is run so poorly in this country
Another a bit problem I find is I’m in wales and we just have outside courts. Our weather is shi 70% of the year, the courts just slippery when they wet or icy. If we do have some indoor courts you gotta book and pay n it’s not worth paying is much for jsit the two of you. It’s the same with football too as a kid we had too many games called of due the waterlogged pitches.
As Polish person i think Sochan just willingly choose Polish national team and it has nothing to do with passports
In order to be good at any sport as a nation, you must have quality coaching staff for all stages of players development. It is not all about the money, being from Serbia, where
funding was very often scarce; we never stopped producing great basketball talent. It is also a cultural thing; they maybe like the sport, but they don't have passion for it,
and give up easily when they don't see financial incentives right away. Without quality expertise and a lack of motivation, there is only one outcome.
they are really good in knife combat tho...
I dont know about Scotland, England or Northern Ireland, but In Wales, you will really struggle to find anyone who plays, watches, keeps up with or pursues basketball. Nobody here cares about basketball, we only have a population of 3 million, Basketball isn’t even close to being the most popular sport here.
If basketball really is that popular in Britain, it would have no problem making money.
It is popular in terms of participation so people playing recreationally
I’m the best basketballer out of Britain big 30 on me splash brothers like I play with klay 🦾
Crazy I just found out the other day that Og anabody dude is British
They only care about footy but havent won an international trophy in how long?
The Basketball courts in England are garbage 🗑️ as well .
Short answer: Underfunded
As a Standard Liège fan,huh,weren't our owners,777,filed for bankrupcy because they had committed fraud.
I hope this a different 777😂😂😂
Trophies is irrelevant when you’re talking about talent. Greece, Portugal both won the Euros with squads no where near England’s. Netherlands is the same, they have only won once and it was the Euros back in 1988 but produce more talent than Italy for instance.
England produce more footballing talent than any other nation, that doesn’t guarantee trophies. There’s a reason why they got to back to back finals, it’s the other factors that cost them such as management and being in a league which is flooded with foreign players and managers, they have no identity because of this. When English managers were given opportunities, they had success. Clough, Paisley and Robson for instance all won European trophies.
You could maybe compare the situation to “soccer” in the US. Imagine if nfl didn’t exist , you’d have a lot more of americas elite athletes being shaped into soccer players. Likewise with the uk , it doesn’t matter if someone is 6 ft 5 so likely the perfect basketball player build.. they’ll just become a striker in football or a centre back, or rugby will steal the talent too