Basketball On The Internet.

I’M still having trouble understanding why the SEABL wants to hand its administrative reigns to Basketball Australia when I look at how little the federation has done for the WNBL.

Other than stamp out Canberra Capitals’ live streaming of games.

That was a huge leap forward for womankind.

When the talk was of the SEABL being an “underpinning league” for the NBL, well, OK, it made a modicum of sense to come under BA's umbrella.

But once the NBL demerged to again run under its own steam, it no longer had any obligation to any proposed underpinning.

I mean, I would love to have once seen an NBL and a back-up AussieLeague running in this country in the same way (sort of) as the Euroleague and EuroCup in Europe.

But as it is no longer feasible unless the NBL moves to winter or the SEABL to summer, I’m just not understanding why the longest-running interstate competition we have would want to hand away its control.

I point to the WNBL because since the NBL’s demerger from BA, our elite women’s competition has become the federation’s primary elite domestic focus.

So where is the huge marketing and merchandising push for our elite teams or, at the very least, our elite players?

Where are those inspirational posters of an eternity ago promoting our outstanding female athletes?

Way back in the last century (1998 to be precise) when the WNBL was being sponsored by Link, the league released a brilliant poster featuring Gina Stevens, Michelle Brogan, Jae Kingi and Chika Emeagi looking suitably athletic and, let’s not beat around the bush, so to speak, but very hot.

The poster read: “It’s all about attitude” and was such a positive promotion for young girls to jump into our sport that I know it still sits on walls in high school phys ed departments because I saw it – much to my joy – not once but twice recently.

Or how about that other wonderful poster of a sleek body-suited Shelley Sandie throwing down a “backward dunk” against a blue sky?

Those images and promotions of that nature do wonders for our league’s profile and now BA doesn’t have the drain of the NBL on its resources, you might have expected to see at least a similar flurry of activity.

But there's been none of which most of us would be aware.

For a league which boasts Opals players in abundance – and our Opals are current Olympic Bronze Medallists – and a host of quality WNBA imports, we remain an incredibly well-kept secret from mainstream Australia.

Should that still be the case considering the league launched in 1981??

This isn’t about netball snaring the lioness’s share of available publicity for women’s sport.

Instead of fighting netball - we're not silly enough to fight football/rugby so why battle another similarly historically entrenched sport? - we should have learned from the way it has lifted its profile.

Truth is precious little is being done to promote the women's league.

BA and its officials wax on about participation numbers etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (thank you to the late Yul Brynner for that) but sadly, it also appears to treat the WNBL like a participation league.

Home game presentations in many venues border on the shamateurish, and have for years.

Sure, make the “we have no money” claim til the cows come wandering home but there is no shortage of volunteers willing and able to help make the game into more of an event.

Can’t speak too confidently about other venues but Adelaide Lightning’s consistent diehard home game fans – about 450 of the hardy crew – are the same faces every game, every year. Unless one of them has a Sunday barby. Then the crowd can quickly be down by four to six. And it shows.

Juniors aren’t flocking to the game, families aren’t flooding to “the event” because, at the end of the day, you’re only there to watch a game of basketball.

There’s nothing more on the day’s agenda. Sure, a few dancing girls, some music – the usual trimmings – but all usually conducted with the amateur hand of a teenage ballet teacher trying to keep her class of 8-year-olds in some semblance of order.

To me, BA should consult and devise a standardised WNBL home game entertainment package to which all clubs must adhere. And those with larger volunteer bases can do more, but no-one should do less.

Start genuinely endeavoring to make the game into a “night”.

And while that transformation is taking place, get some positive posters and promotions out into the community.

Who is working at BA to get TV commercials for Revlon or some other pertinent product for Melissa Marsh, Laura Hodges, Jenna O’Hea, Tess Madgen, Sara Blicavs, Abby Bishop, Kristen Veal, Mia Newley or Ashley Gayle?

On and off, we have Lauren Jackson playing in our league. And Liz Cambage.

What mileage has BA garnered for the WNBL by the presence of those two superstars in it?

What mileage did BA get out of Cambage being the first woman in history to dunk at an Olympic Games?

Tell me, who outside basketball now even recalls that happening?

Opportunity lost.  Opportunity wasted.

Opportunity missed.

Shall I bring up Kyrie Irving again and the lost mileage BA could have scored for our sport nationwide?

My questions are simply these:

Now BA only has the WNBL to focus on, what are we seeing that we haven’t seen before?

And why, oh why, does anyone believe the SEABL being run by BA is a good idea?