Basketball New Zealand

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NZ Tall Black haka v Italy, Athens Olympics

Toby Robson, Dominion Post

Basketball New Zealand is launching a two-pronged assault on the international men’s stage with plans for more tours to Europe and the establishment of a new Commonwealth tournament.

After attending several high profile Fiba events in Europe last month BBNZ chief executive Bryn McGoldrick said the Tall Blacks could not afford to sit back and wait for international teams to travel down-under.

“Being up there in Europe and seeing the figures, playing numbers, TV ratings, and the revenue being generated, it’s quite staggering,” he said.

“I think it’s clear that we need to spend more time up in Europe.”

McGoldrick spent 10 days in Europe, where he sat on the Commonwealth Commission in London and had a rare chance to attend Fiba Europe’s annual general assembly in Poland.

While attracting tours to New Zealand was important, the key to keeping pace with the world’s top teams was gaining a foothold in Europe, he said.

“Having been there and seen it first-hand, it’s obvious where we need to be. It is a bit of a shift (in our focus), but it’s reality. It’s too hard to get them down here.”

The Tall Blacks will tour Latvia and Croatia this year and McGoldrick said those relationships needed to be maintained and enhanced.

“We have to drive our relationships and be prepared to travel if we want to make it into the world’s top 10.”

Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic would attend the EuroBasket tournament in September to establish future touring opportunities, McGoldrick said.

The Tall Blacks are currently ranked 12th in the world but must beat 10th-ranked Australia at August’s Oceania championships to qualify for next year’s Beijing Olympics or face a tough qualifying tournament in Europe.

In another bid to boost New Zealand’s men’s and women’s international programmes, BBNZ is driving a new Commonwealth tournament.

McGoldrick said Fiba had been disappointed to discover basketball was not on the programme for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Dehli and was unlikely to be included in 2014 in either Nigeria or Scotland.

“As a result we are looking at organising a Commonwealth tournament every four years in the same year as the Commonwealth Games till such time as we get in,” McGoldrick said. “It’s not what we wanted, but it’s the next best thing.”

The proposal will go before Fiba’s central board in December.