Time TBF revived basketball rivalries to develop the game

Dar es Salaam. The curtain on the Fiba Africa Zone Five Club Championships was brought down yesterday with Tanzanian representatives failing to walk the talk.
The country was represented by Savio in the men’s category while their sisters Don Bosco Lioness battled it out against the Zone Five’s top women outfits.
Nothing good enough to write home about from the two outfit’s participation in the Kigali championship. They prolonged Tanzania’s wait its first regional silverware since Vijana did so back in 2001.
Uganda’s City Oilers and Gezira of Egypt were to lock horns in the final last evening as Savio capped their campaign with another defeat to finish at the bottom.
Tanzanian clubs have become also-rans on the international stage and their performance is mirrored in the national team, which despite hosting the Zone V tournament last year, they were outmuscled and left with a bitter taste.
It is undeniable that the Tanzanian basketball is on the downward spiral because of a myriad of reasons.
Lack of reliable sponsorship tops the list of the obstacles that hinder the Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) to organise multiple competitions from the grassroots to the national level.
TBF’s failure to secure reliable and long-term sponsors has certainly denied hundreds of young talents a chance to blossom.
It is, however, worth noting that, amid all the setbacks and frustrations, there have been success stories as late as four years ago and the most notable is the exciting rivalry among top clubs.
Basketball lovers, particularly the ones residing in Dar es Salaam, could vividly recall the excitement surrounding rivalries between the most successful outfits, whose encounters were worth attending.
In the men’s category, matches involving the likes of Army Basketball Club (ABC), Chang’ombe Boys, JKT, Oilers, Pazi, Savio and Vijana alias City Bulls, pulled hundreds of fans as it was the case in the ladies’ category, in which established clubs including Cargo Ladies, Don Bosco Lioness, Jeshi Stars and JKT Stars keenly contested for glory.
Although the mentioned outfits still exist and regularly compete in the Dar es Salaam Regional Basketball League, which is organised by Basketball Dar es Salaam (BD), there is, sadly, little to report as far as their performances are concerned.
These rivalries played a big role in maintaining basketball enthusiasm apart from raising the profile of the sport.
For Tanzania to regain it lost pride, the basketball body needs to come up with a raft of resolutions that help will lift enthusiasm of the sport.
Rivalries like the Chang’ombe Boys versus Vijana could be described as the most exciting based on determination showcased by both sides whenever they met. The rivalry, on several occasions, developed to physical confrontations both on the court and in the stands and that led to cancellation of some of the games between the two.
This was healthy for the growth of the sport as every team strived to bolster their squads and train to avoid humiliation.
ABC versus JKT: It was another intense rivalry bringing together army teams with almost similar game approach, which encompassed high pace, aggressiveness and skilful displays by gifted performers in either side.
ABC proudly relied on experienced players like Haleluya Kavalambi, Ibrahim Mwinyi and Godfrey Changwe while JKT had the likes of Frank Simkoko, Ashraf Haroun, Juma Kisoky and Frank Kusiga.
Whenever these sides met, the National Indoor Stadium got packed. However, things have changed and the excitement is no longer there.
The Jeshi Stars-JKT Queens was also a crowd puller in the women’s events. It was considered as a derby for both sides hail from Temeke.
Defeat was hardly taken lightly by players of both teams when they clashed in either the RBA League or other club tournaments and that served to enthuse young players love the sport.
Another exciting rivalry was between Cargo Ladies and Don Bosco Lioness. The two teams always challenged for honours genuinely and had a host of talented players rising from their ranks.
In most of the matches bringing these two teams together, Cargo Ladies regularly banked on their physical advantage over Don Bosco Lionesses while the latter’s players had to deploy their pace and dribbling skills to counter their opponents.
With the absence of competitions on regular basis, it is sad to note that rivalry between the top clubs has definitely taken a serious blow and the situation has equally led to demise in enthusiasm in the sport.
The fact that rivalry among the clubs contributed greatly in raising the standard of the game means efforts should now be put in place to bring the aspect back into the sport. While it is clear to almost every basketball enthusiast that rivalry among clubs in either RBA League or other competitions is almost non-existent, recollecting the memorable rivalries that existed in the past few years, therefore, is meant to ignite efforts among the sport’s stakeholders to revive competitiveness in the sport.