South Africa's basketball community

SA basketball is back big time !!

By on October 21, 2013 in BNL

Wow what a weekend of basketball we had in Mzansi… From the build up the during the week to the chatter on Facebook and Twitter to the opening ceremony and finally to the last few games of yesterday..  SA basketball public and fans were treated to a festival of games like we haven’t seen in a while.. And we can’t wait for round 2 next weekend.BNL official logoLike the saying goes: “When it rains, it pours”. This all started with ESPN announcing that it would not be showing any NBA games on TV, this led to an outcry via the social media networks from most African fans and particularly SA fans. And like if the timing of this had been synchronized, we had the annual NBA BWB Africa taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa and during the highly publicized visit, the NBA announced that Supersport had become a broadcast partner and that Africa and everyone with access to Supersport could still enjoy the game we all love.. So that was the first bit of good news.. Then there were murmurs in the stands and in the SA basketball circles that something bigger was coming.. And then bang, Supersport announced that it will be showing local basketball on TV with the launch of the BNL ( Basketball National League). For most of us that have been around this game for a while, we were still in shock at the news and we were unsure if we could pinch ourselves just yet but wanted to wait until tip-off to see if this dream had become a reality.

When the start date was pushed back, some doubters said this was a sign that all wasn’t well and that the dream might just have been that but the BNL had done that to sort out all the logistical and administrative issues they still had. And finally last week Friday, we had the first televised basketball game in SA in a long time. For those that were at the game, the first game might not have been the spectacle we were expecting but the moment was bigger than the game and maybe the two teams also got caught in that moment. This was a huge step for basketball in South Africa, and for most of us that see Supersport as the bench mark for Sports broadcasting, this was the biggest achievement in the last 15 years that SA ball had seen. We had the hype from the crowd in the stands, and for those not able to attend the game due to geographical location, Supersport was broadcasting this live. The social media networks were also abuzz with live tweets from Twitter (@mybasket, @BNLSA, @BBallmagSA, @bballZA, @LOQDOWNAFRICA, with #BNL2013 the hot topic on Friday) and regular Facebook updates.

In the end, we had close and entertaining games over the weekend, a true festival of basketball, with some much needed positive publicity for the game locally. Now we look forward to each weekend with anticipations of the match ups and upsets and as someone said: ” I didn’t know what I used to do on weekends before the BNL started.”

Here are your BNL teams so that you can start familiarizing yourselves with their names for the weeks and years to come:

BNL Teams

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend’s results will follow shortly.

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There Are 3 Brilliant Comments

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  1. Emmanuel says:

    I would like to know when local basketball scout search is conducted. i would really appreciate it if you can sponsor sizolwethu school with basketball jersey’s for age 18. we are located in Daveyton. you have balls and jersey’s kindly inform me.

  2. Tipp off says:

    @Emmanuel, I say speak to the guys running the local BNL team closest to your area. Also speak to Ekurhuleni Basketball (aka Joseph Mangadi) to help you out. run a tournament at the school to get the word out there about your basketball programme. just push as much as possible and i’m sure you’ll find an answer.

  3. oluwatosin says:

    Wao!!!!!!!I love this,am a basketballer from Nigeria,am 6.5ft play power forward,am a committed player,who really love to play at anytime and achieve good goal for any club,plsss I need help,am ready to play

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