The impact of globalisation on basketball

Globalization is a process by which the world is becoming extremely connected. There are interactions and integrations amongst people, companies and government of nations it is process driven by information technology.

It was all started by Dr. James Naismith, the son of two Scottish immigrants to Canada. By 1891, Dr. Naismith was teaching physical education in Springfield, MA at the YMCA International Training School (which today is Springfield College). While there, he was asked by the director of physical education, Dr. Luther Gulick, to come up with a new game students could play indoors during the winter that would help keep track and field runners in shape and would be relatively safe to play (particularly that it would have a small amount of physical contact so that the players wouldn’t get injured in this game).

Dr. Naismith was given two weeks to come up with such a game. What he came up with was inspired by a game he had played as a child, “ Duck on a Rock”, which is a game that has been played since medieval times. Basketball is the second most popular sport after soccer in the worldwide population and is the fastest growing in the country globally after soccer. The game became established decently quickly and grew very popular as the 20th century advanced, first in America and then throughout the world. After basketball became established in American colleges, the professional game followed. The American National Basketball Association (NBA), established in 1946, grew to a multibillion-dollar enterprise by the end of the century, and basketball turned into a vital piece of American culture. On December 21, 1891, James Naismith published rules for a new game using five basic ideas and thirteen rules. That day, he asked his class to play a match in the Armory Street court: 9 versus 9, using a soccer ball and two peach baskets. Frank Mahan, one of his students, wasn’t so happy. He just said: “ Harrumph. Another new game”. However, Naismith was the inventor of the new game. Someone proposed to call it “ Naismith Game”, but he suggested, “ We have a ball and a basket: why don’t we call it basketball?” The eighteen players were John G. Thompson, Eugene S. Libby, Edwin P. Ruggles, William R. Chase, T. Duncan Patton, Frank Mahan, Finlay G. MacDonald, William H. Davis and Lyman Archibald, who defeated George Weller, Wilbert Carey, Ernest Hildner, Raymond Kaighn, Genzaburo Ishikawa, Benjamin S. French, Franklin Barnes, George Day and Henry Galen. The final score was 1–0. The goal was scored by Chase. There were other differences between Naismith’s first idea and the game played today. The peach baskets were closed, and balls had to be retrieved manually until a small hole was put in the bottom of the peach basket to poke the ball out using a stick. Only in 1906 were the metal hoops, nets, and backboards introduced. Moreover, earlier the soccer ball was replaced by a Spalding ball, similar to the one used today.

Transnational corporations (TNC) play a huge role within the sports industry, from being the company that airs the game to being the corporate sponsor. Huge amounts of money are spent on presentation and showing of games, including money from advertising and buying the rights to air the game. Some sports figures are paid a lot of money to wear a particular brand and salaries for the elite players are very high.