If you were to corner the proverbial "man on the street" in Taiwan and ask him which sport was the nation's favorite, the answer would probably be baseball. And with the rise of Wang Chien-ming, the outstanding Taiwanese baseball pitcher playing in the US major leagues for the New York Yankees, as well as the recent qualification of Taiwan's national team for the Beijing Olympics, baseball does seem to be the sport that draws the most public attention. However, the latest figures from the Sports Affairs Council reveal that basketball is the most popular ball sport in the nation that people actually play, with 20 percent of those surveyed reporting that it was the sport they participated in most often last year. Of all types of exercise, walking came in first, jogging second, basketball third and baseball a distant 11th.
Before the arrival of the Kuomintang (KMT) from China in 1949, the most popular sport in Taiwan was baseball, which was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century during the Japanese colonial era. However, the game of basketball has a long tradition in China, and Chinese teams participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and in the 1948 games in London. After the KMT took power in Taiwan, basketball grew rapidly in popularity, reaching a peak about 30 years ago. In those days, it was considered the "one and only sport" in Taiwan, says Wang Jen-sen, executive deputy secretary-general and chief of referees for the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA). "The government paid more attention to basketball than any other sport," Wang says. Many high-ranking military officers loved to watch the game and teams from the armed forces frequently took part in local tournaments. In response to the officers' enthusiasm, the government began building more basketball courts.
In 1950, the Taiwan Province Basketball Tournament, which was the island's first large-scale competition, had to be rescheduled because a huge crowd of overly enthusiastic fans prevented the participating teams from being able to enter the stadium. Tournaments such as the Jie-Shou Cup, Liberty Cup and Jhong-Jheng Cup also proved popular from 1950 to 1980, with fans often forced to wait in queues for up to two days to get tickets.
Taiwan left the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) in 1975 due to a dispute with China, but the nation decided to maintain a presence in the international basketball community by creating the William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament in 1977. The competition invites clubs, collegiate and national teams from around the world, with most of the entrants coming from Asia.
Taiwan's continuing love affair with basketball was evident in the massive crowd that encircled Taipei Stadium hours before the first game of the 1977 tourney began. Taiwan reentered FIBA in 1981 under the name Chinese Taipei, but the Jones Cup has continued for both men and women. Despite the decline in fan attendance at the tournament in recent years, the Jones Cup will celebrate its 30th anniversary when it gets underway in the middle of July this summer.
Interschool Leagues
Since more than 90 percent of Taiwan's schools have basketball courts and more students play basketball than any other ball sport, the Ministry of Education chose basketball as the nation's first sport to feature interschool leagues. The University Basketball Alliance (UBA) began play in 1987, followed by the launch of the High School Basketball League (HBL) in 1988. Over the past 20 years, the number of teams participating in the UBA has grown from the initial 105 to more than 230, and more than 3,500 players participated last year. In the HBL, more than 320 teams and 90,000 players have participated in tournaments.
Doctor Lee, a senior basketball columnist at RoundBallCity.com, believes that the enduring popularity of basketball has very little to do with Taiwan's international performance. Whereas the popularity of baseball seems to rise and fall depending on how Taiwanese players and teams perform on the world stage, the love for basketball has become more deeply rooted in Taiwan, Lee says. Taiwan's men's basketball team made its last Olympic appearance at the Rome games in 1960 and it has performed far from impressively on the world stage. Despite this, the Taiwanese fondness for the sport can be seen in the legions of enthusiastic players hustling around courts in most schoolyards and city parks. This unceasing passion continued even after the sport appeared to have hit rock bottom when Taiwan's Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA), the nation's first and only true professional basketball league, collapsed in 1999 after only five seasons.
Taiwan's fondness for basketball can be seen in the legions of enthusiastic players hustling around courts in most schoolyards and city parks. (Courtesy of Taiwan Panorama)
"Basketball is simple, convenient and economical; all you need are a ball, backboard and a hoop to play the game," Lee says, noting that these traits make basketball similar to soccer, which is popular around the world because it too is inexpensive and does not require much equipment.
CTBA's Wang agrees with Lee, adding that the charm of basketball is the intelligence and team spirit it calls for. "The recreational value of the sport and the sense of achievement accomplished through the game are the most important factors," Wang says.
In fact, the CBA and the semi-professional Super Basketball League (SBL) have not been the only attempts to promote basketball in Taiwan over the years. When three-on-three basketball began to boom in the 1980s, Wang wrote a rulebook for the game, elevating it from its street roots to a format suitable for formal competition. That accomplished, the CTBA and Wang held the nation's first three-on-three tournament in 1988. Nicknamed "bullfighting" by young players, three-on-three has become the most popular type of basketball in Taiwan and is even a major theme in an ongoing game show on cable television.
Fan Interest Dips
While Taiwanese love to play basketball, attending games as a fan has become less popular. After the failure of the CBA in 1999, the SBL began play in 2003, attempting to rekindle spectator interest by attracting a different crowd to games. Although the SBL has attracted some old fans and many new faces to the game, very few matches attract a spectator turnout as large as those for matches from the 1950s to the 1980s.
In fact, Enquist Chuang, the Taiwan Beer team's administration and marketing officer, says that only 76 fans showed up to watch an SBL regular season game in February this year, leaving him concerned that the league is in crisis. "The marketing of the SBL is too similar to that in the entertainment industry--audiences look for fancy skills and good looks in players nowadays," Chuang says. He notes, as have many others, that the SBL now lures many younger fans, especially teenage girls. Chuang acknowledges that while it is good that the SBL is attracting a category of fans that previously did not often attend basketball games, he wonders if the league has done enough to entice core basketball lovers to return to matches. He points out that many fans today come to the games merely to track down celebrity players. "Some fans even leave the game right after they get the stars' autographs," Chuang says.
While the men's regular-season SBL games are shown on ESPN and playoff games are often sold out, Taiwan's women's league, the WSBL, has drawn little media coverage and fan support, though women's basketball enjoyed a period of popularity 15 to 20 years ago. Nevertheless, Taiwan's women's team usually comes closer to qualifying for the Olympics than the men's team, and at the 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006, Taiwan's women's team earned a silver medal in basketball, a first for the nation. Columnist Lee contends that there is little spectator interest in watching women's basketball in Taiwan now because the teams lack the speed and explosive power seen in the men's game. Others, however, believe that the level of play and spectator interest would pick up if the government did more to promote women's sports.
TV Timeout
Lee points out that with the prevalence of cable television, people now have many more choices when it comes to watching basketball. According to the statistics from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, around 80 percent of Taiwan's households currently receive cable services. Lee and Chuang both think that more basketball fans are choosing to watch the higher level of play seen in National Basketball Association games in the United States, which are frequently shown on cable television, rather than attending SBL or Jones Cup matches in person.
Richard Yen, chairman of the Taipei Municipal Athletics Federation's Basketball Association and the head coach of the Taiwan Beer basketball team, identifies two fundamental flaws in the SBL: the lack of a proper stadium and the wide disparity in the playing levels between the teams. Speaking on the stadium issue during a Tuesday night practice for his team, Yen said, "[As of right now] I still have no idea where our game on Friday is going to be played." After a fire destroyed Taipei Stadium in 1989 and the "White Stadium" at the Taipei Physical Education College was demolished last year, most of the time the SBL has been forced to hold its games at Taipei County's Hsinchuang Stadium. The area's inconvenient transportation deters students from going to the games, making the already critical attendance problem worse.
The wide talent gap between SBL teams has led fans to complain that many of the league's regular-season games result in boring blowouts. The Yulon Dinos team has often signed the best players due to Yulon Group's large financial investment in the team and the Dinos won the SBL championship title in the league's first three seasons. The league implemented a new player selection procedure--teams with the worst records now get the first picks--in an attempt to reduce the talent imbalance, but Yen worries that "this action may be too late to save the league."
The Yulon Dinos take on Taiwan Beer in April for this season's SBL championship. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
An experienced basketball coach, Yen has also noticed a change in the attitude of the young generation of players. In the past, players always practiced hard in order to develop their ability, Yen says, "but now, the players just don't challenge themselves enough."
Looking at the bigger picture, Enquist Chuang, also from the Taiwan Beer team, says Taiwanese society still focuses on traditional education only and does not recognize sports achievements. Parents usually do not encourage children to become athletes, he says, nor does the education system provide sufficient training for them. As the SBL has not yet gained enough momentum to become a true professional league, coach Yen predicts most of its players will become school coaches in the future rather than furthering their career as professional players.
Columnist Lee suggests that the government could reward enterprises that support and invest in basketball teams and facilities with lower taxes and other enticements. He adds that in addition to boosting the fitness and health of all students, each school should develop its own area of sports expertise, with the government providing the necessary funding. Professional coaches should also be sent to specific schools to cultivate potential athletes, he says. To energize the nation's basketball community, CTBA's Wang says that after finding out many of the star players in the SBL are of aboriginal descent, such as Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh and Yang Chin-min of Taiwan Beer and Wang Chih-chun of the Dacin Tigers, he would like to discover more talented indigenous basketball players. His plan gathered momentum with the first basketball tournament for aboriginal players last December, and he hopes that promising indigenous players will receive better training under experienced coaches sent and sponsored by the CTBA in the future.
Despite the adversity facing the SBL, columnist Lee remains hopeful about the future of organized basketball in Taiwan. As a basketball aficionado, he is convinced that even if the SBL were to cease play, the widespread passion for the sport would eventually lead to the establishment of another high-level league. "Setting up a professional league is the only way to go," says Lee, who believes more attention and better policies from the government can save the sport's top-level league from dying off. "When the government shows its devotion to the sport, the atmosphere will change," he says.
Basketball has become an integral part of Lee's life. He has written about it for more than 20 years and played it all his life. Like many casual but enthusiastic players who spend most of their leisure time on the basketball court, he earnestly hopes that the sport can reclaim its position as a game Taiwanese love to play and watch.
Taiwan Beer Basketball Team
The Taiwan Beer Basketball Team sponsored by Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp. (TTLC) is one of the SBL's seven original teams and the league's champion for the last two seasons. After the Yulon Dinos dominated the SBL's first three seasons by winning the championship in all of them, Taiwan Beer resolved to improve upon its performance by following a strict training regime and thoroughly adopting the must-win attitude of head coach Richard Yen.
During the 2005-2006 SBL playoffs, with Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh taking the floor despite a lingering ankle injury, the beer men defeated the Dacin Tigers in the semifinals and for the first time earned an opportunity to challenge the Yulon Dinos for the league championship. TTLC's then-chairman Ray B. Dawn wrote the word "attitude" on a bandage on Lin's ankle and the word came to symbolize the team's competitive spirit. Former player and current volunteer marketing executive Charles Chen was similarly inspired to make T-shirts with the word "attitude" printed in green on them so all the Taiwan Beer players would be encouraged not only to adopt a winning attitude, but also to "wear" it. Unfortunately for Taiwan Beer, however, the Dinos won the title in five games.
Nevertheless, this positive attitude led the team all the way back to the 2006-2007-championship game last year. This time the team faced the Dacin Tigers and game six of their best-of-seven title series was a back-and-forth struggle. With 20 seconds left and the Tigers holding a slim 2-point lead, Chen Shih-nien forced a last-gasp 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in the game to hand Taiwan Beer its first SBL championship title. The victory is now known as the "green miracle" among SBL fans.
An oft-repeated sports adage holds that it is more difficult to repeat as champions than it is to win the first championship. Taiwan Beer won 20 games and lost 10 during the 2007-2008 regular season, finishing second in the league behind the Dinos. The beer men won their best-of-five semifinal series against the dmedia Numen to gain another title tilt against the Dinos. Taiwan Beer successfully defended its title in six games against the Dinos. Lin Chih-jeh, for the second consecutive season, won the championship series' MVP award.
--Audrey Wang
Write to Audrey Wang at awang@mail.gio.gov.tw