Why are you only directing this to girls?
Boys also play football on Sundays? Are you suggesting there should only be repercussions for one gender?

I'm very confused.

The Parent obviously Manders daughter is facing this situation so that is why the focus is there.

Manders tell Football games to move to another day or night. There is more opportunity for females in Basketball so if they would prefer football they can go in that direction instead if they like.

Ah, that makes sense SixersFan.

Our girls basketball teams play the same time as the boys basketball teams. District during the week, social on Saturdays. Football is on Sundays.
Doesn't clash here.

Only clash would be for trainings.

The Parent, the problem is if Sunday training was moved to another day that could be when another sport is on for example Netball or even when football training is on. A junior will need to choose and commit which is just a part of life.

Basketball V Football
A battle that will rage on forever here in Australia.

It's crazy to me that basketball has a vastly higher participation rate than football for kids and adults. Yet, somehow, football people and coaches seem to brainwash people into thinking basketball is a rinky-dink sport that impacts them.

Link for participation survey through aussport
https://www.ausport.gov.au/clearinghouse/research/ausplay/results

The discourse from football is "basketball should move to suit us", yet year after year, data comes out that basketball is participated in more than football. Is it not time for football to move to suit basketball?

To the parent who made the original comment, why are you asking basketball to sacrifice to suit your daughter's football, but you aren't asking the football program to sacrifice for her basketball?

Why aren't you posting in here, saying:
"Data from the last 15 years highlights that basketball is the most participated in sport when compared to football. why does football treat basketball like it's 1975 still and expect people to sacrifice their basketball for football?"

I agree that kids playing a wide range of sports growing up, should be promoted. But this "little brother" mentality to basketball is getting old, especially when basketball is bigger in every metric except one... funding from the government!

According to GrantConnect from 2017 to 2024 of the "major sports" Basketball was 9th in funding.

Basketball Australia won $6.6mil in grants
Tennis 9.3 mil
cricket 10 mil
soccer 10.7 mil
AFL 11.6 mill
Netball 13.1 Mil
Rugby (NRL) 18.9 mil
Rugby Union 34.9 mil
Surf Lifesaving 91.7 Mil
Link below

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/Research/Quick_Guides/2024-25/Funding_for_major_sporting_codes_a_quick__guide

Basketball will always lag behind other sports until it's people can tell a story... then sell the story.

... And get into the cliques and positions of power, which the AFL and NRL do so well

Great post Grote 12

I am coming from a club perspective, and someone involved in both sports. We are having the debate. Girls participation in football has increased and is increasing significantly, and there is a big overlap. So it is now becoming a bigger issue where it hasn't really been in the past on the girls side. I like the idea of not training on Sundays, and making sure domestic games are on Saturdays, but I appreciate there are other (very strong and well put!) views.

A little unfair to attack the OP.

Legitimate problem that does as above have a number of different takes on it.

Saturday morning and Sunday sport is an issue for basketball as a second tier sport. Post all the stats you want, the Australian way is AFL in the southern states wins. Also Sunday GAMES will come before Sunday TRAININGS irrespective of the sport.

Some in basketball will argue that we invest in those that are 100% committed to basketball, unfortunately the issue on the girls side of the game is the numbers won't hold up and the standard will also be significantly impacted.

The same data as quoted above confirms that over 2/3 of juniors playing basketball are boys. Boys basketball in theory can survive by excluding dual sport athletes who can't find a way to work around basketball first. Those numbers would highlight that if more and more girls are affected there surely is a point where the numbers and in theory talent pool becomes too thin.

Every sport is working independently and some, like AFL, do so with the belief that they are superior to all others and they will always come first.

Second and Third tier sports will always have to find ways to adjust, compromise and survive around AFL because the profile and money they have is just not something that can be fought against.

Maybe someone has numbers to support this, but in Victoria, my perception is that soccer (Sunday) and basketball (Saturday, or Friday for rep) are the clear top 2 sports for boys. So the top two sports are on alternate days.

For girls, netball is in the mix so it's probably a top 3 with soccer (Sunday), basketball and netball (both Saturday) in some order.

AFL (Sunday) would be trailing behind as the 3rd sport for boys. And down the list somewhere for girls, as I assume gymnastics would be ahead of AFL

The OP referenced Sundays. Some Southern Victorian associations I'm aware play bball on Sundays but it's not the norm. Most Victorian associations have their domestic comps on Saturdays. Some rep clubs train on Sundays though.

Ultimately there's only two days on the weekend and there will always be clashes.

As I understand it, and I'm happy to be corrected, there are a significant number of Victorian Basketball associations that train their representative teams on a Sunday morning. There are also quite a few AFL clubs that play Junior football at a domestic level on a Sunday morning, so it starts to become a bit of a clash and a toss up between Junior domestic football and representative Basketball. And while we all know that multisport athletes are better rounded athletes, over the longer period of time, we should not force Junior athletes to choose too early. In some cases that does need to be a choice.

With that being said you don’t tell the swimming club what time they can run their classes..so one sporting code should not be able to tell another sporting code what should or should not be done. Life is choices that be made by individuals and balanced against desires and expectations.

Kids should be encouraged to play multiple sports.

I'm not a fan of rep basketball trainings on a Sunday morning as impacts both the kids footy performance and the parents ability to have a few ales on a Sat night.

I think while fewer people play footy than basketball, I think that local clubs do a much better job of creating a community around the club. There's a lot of reasons for that, but I think basketball clubs struggle to get that same community buy in (generally).

It's hard to get buy in and a club atmosphere when you don't have a single place where you train and play half of your games. Footy clubs have honour boards and you can see the history etc, even though they are tiny compared to many basketball clubs.

It's a tough one as there is a lot of overlap happening at the moment. I know of many who are playing both representative and football on Sundays. Some are doing netball too! I personally think it's quite hard physically to do both football and basketball, netball is not as physical and IMO is far less strenuous than basketball and footy. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I have definitely noticed some of my players can't perform as well in their games on sunday when they've finished a football game that morning. I"m not sure you can force them to pick one or the other, I'm just not sure how well you can do it all simultaneously.

I think my point is being slightly missed.

I want kids to play AS MANY sports as possible.
A great book called "Range" by David Epstein should be read by all sportspeople, not just coaches. It highlights that, not even in sports, but in general life, you shouldn't become a specialist until it's required.

To bring this back to sport, though, when basketball was smaller and less popular than football, the consensus was "we have to sacrifice because otherwise our sport will cease to exist"

But now basketball is bigger, and the mindset from football clubs/people is the same as before.

But as a coach I deal with many multisport athletes and:
Soccer/Basketball athletes - 0 issues
Tennis/Basketball athletes - 0 issues
Cricket/Basketball athletes - 0 issues
Athletics/Basketball - 0 issues
Swimming/Basketball - 0 issues
Hockey/Basketball - 0 issues
Football/Basketball - Have had football coaches call me to not play a player as much, ask if the kids can miss multiple trainings, pressure kids to not play basketball as "risk" of injury, coaches have put pressure on players at U16 level saying they need to pick a sport now or they wont play to A grade side.

As a coach, I have never put pressure on a player to stop playing another sport, or to miss other sports events, or inferred that another sport is bad for them.

My point is steadfast as other sports and basketball seem to work well together.
Basketball cannot be expected to accommodate every sporting code, and mathematically, football is the least played sport by junior athletes; therefore, working with/around football would be the least efficient option and the least effective at capturing a market. Football should be trying to work with basketball, as basketball holds some of the most junior athletes.

I agree basketball is missing the "club culture" element, and it's up to the clubs to find a solution to that. A mindset shift is due from the football side, in my opinion, as now the little sport is the biggest, and it's time that the other codes show the relevant respect.

Love the passion.

Participation in football (Australian rules) for girls is growing rapidly, particularly in basketball heartland areas of the Southern states. 25% of registered players are female. That is from a low base just a few years ago. And they typically play games on Sundays, and never at the same time each week. It's as simple and as hard as that. I fear basketball will be the loser in the head to head battle for female talent over time. Just as we see several of the top AFL draft prospects for next year being State and National basketballers.

Not saying that is fair or right, but I am a realist.

A big difference between basketball and footy is the 'time and conditions' commitment.

With footy, it’s played outdoors, it’s very physical, and it takes up a lot of time. Once you commit to it, you can expect that it won’t be comfortable, and there will be many others feeling the same pain. Because you’re there for a long time, you have lots of time to mix with others, share information and emotions, etc etc. There may be something put on afterwards, which again gives the opportunity to mix and build up a team culture and all that.

Basketball, on the other hand, is played in comfortable conditions, is relatively safe, and is quick. It’s (road trips aside) a lot easier to spend as little time as necessary at the game or mixing with the players, parents and spectators.


While I can’t stand how arrogant and dominating footy is compared to basketball and other sports, I can understand why footy can build stronger bonds and spirit because it’s a tougher environment to do well in.