Malaysian fans cross Causeway to catch Dragons in action against Slingers
Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.
KL Dragons fans make the trip to Singapore to support their team. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, 22 November 2009 – Around 60 KL Dragon fans travelled across the Causeway to catch the team play against the Singapore Slingers. It was their first road trip to support their team. Even though their ride to the stadium was late, the Dragon fans did not let the hiccup dampen their spirits and were duly rewarded with a 84-74 win by the KL Dragons.
The KL Dragons fan club is based online, reaching out out to fans via a blog and offering them special ticket rates. It was founded by Ahmad Salman Othman, Ahmad Taufek and Syed Zainal Aljunid. Most of the members are working adults and they have a current strength of over 200 members.
“It is made up of basketball fanatics in Malaysia,” Salman, 38, revealed about the fan club. He expressed his support for the ASEAN Basketball League as a platform for both Malaysian and regional players to gain more exposure and an opportunity for them to make professional basketball as a career.
Salman, along with Syed, 39, are two of the pioneers of basketball support in Malaysia. Basketball players usually start off playing for clubs or states and take part in leagues. Although it is a popular sport amongst the Chinese in Malaysia, other sports such as badminton and soccer still rank above basketball in terms of popularity.
“Prior to the ABL, most people (in Malaysia) thought that basketball was only in China, Philippines, US. The ABL gives players a chance to develop and expose them beyond national levelm” said Salman. He also beamed with pride when he share that two of the KL Dragons, Batumalai Guganeswaran and Chee Li Wei played for Swoosh Basketball Club, a club he manages.
“We can still have more support for basketball in Malaysia. There is also a lack of basketball facilities in Malaysia for players, such as indoor basketball courts,” Salman commented about the support for the sport in his country.
Among the KL fans was Muhammad Haziq Bin Muhammad Alif, 20, with some of his friends from Drumline, a percussion group which performs at games to encourage the team on. He pointed out Rudy Lingganay as his favourite player. “I like the way he plays and his performance on court!”
To travel to Singapore, each of the KL Dragon fan paid 30 ringgit for the coach and ticket, with the KL Dragons helping to organise and subsidize the trip. The KL fans arrived just in time for the game and returned by bus immediately after the game.
“It is out of our love for the game,” Salman quipped when asked why the fans spent the time travelling to Singapore for the basketball match.
A basketball fan spotted wearing a Red Sports tee at the game. (Photo 2 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
This guy makes sure he stands out from the crowd while cheering for the Slingers. (Photo 3 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
KL Dragons’ Chee Li Wei thanking the fans for their support. (Photo 4 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Dragon fans continued cheering loudly even after the match ended. (Photo 5 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Ahmad Salman Othman (back row, right) chatting with some of the KL fans. Salman is one of the 3 founders of the KL Dragons fan club, along with Ahmad Taufek and Syed Zairul Aljunid. (Photo 6 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Man i like the dragons fans..They really support their team.Unlike the Patriots many people in the Philippines didnt even know that this league(ABL)exist…
@ adrax-I strongly agree.
adrax, too many basketball league in philippines, PBA,PBL,NCAA,UAAP,inter town etc. ABL is just new,but im sure for next season their be more supportive
ABL should improve marketing, if i dont have eSPn at home, where can i wacth the other games. Need to update website as well each team website and upload videos
LET’S GO DRAGONS! LET’S GO!!!
kudos to the Dragons fan club and management for realizing the trip. it was well worth the 6 hour ride. a lot of the Dragon fans are hoping that we’ll get to play the Slingers in the playoffs (we WILL make the playoffs) so that we can come down south again. Let’s go Dragons. LET’S GO!
I suggest the ABL management organize team fans/supporters clubs and let a limited number of people watch for free for select games in order to pique the people’s interests. It would also be better if the commentators they hired are more animated compared to the zombies they hired to cover games. Also, it would be good to have young men and women as courtside reporters.
1. Maybe raffling 20 free entrance pass for lucky non-ABL fans would be good.
2. Please replace the current commentators or require them to do some research on the background of the players so they don’t mispronounce the names or they can chat about this or that player’s experience and ability instead of yappering “and number 8 dribbles the ball passes it and shoots… and number 12 passes dribbles the ball…”
3. Have competent, articulate courtside reporters. Please!
@carlos, I’m guessing that you are talking about the Slingers’ commentator. Sorry to say, I feel exactly the same way that you do. The commentator seems like he doesn’t know much about basketball and is definitely responsible for dulling the game with his lack of basketball knowledge, repetition and boring delivery.
I’m a Filipino and I watched this game in Singapore Indoor Stadium. It’s a very good game. Malaysian’s where able to nutralize the Singapore Slingers Imports (Le Blanc, Jeffers, and Vergara) and expose the weakness of Singapore basketball. Good thing for Singapore Wei Long was able to step up otherwise the score will be much farther.
And oh! My friends and I cheered for KL Dragons as if they are our second team. True enough they have I think 3 Filipinos in their line-up. Sorry Al Vergara, they out number you.
@slingerrocks, actually I wasn’t sure if the commentator was from singapore. The problem is, the league is still at its infancy and people watching over the tv expect good and lively commentators. It’s just absolutely irresponsible for any commentator to not even research on the background of particular players. Since this is the first year of the league we don’t expect the commentators to dish out stats from previous years but I think it’s a given that they give stats from the player’s college stint or other professional stint. Take for example a Filipino like me who doesn’t know anything about players from the other teams, I think it would be good if I knew the players name and their background so I can be interested in the league. I can say that the fans of KL are the most lively so far and we should just take our cue from these guys.
There are no Singapore commentators.
For Singapore games, one commentator is a Caucasian and the other is from Philippines.
Well the game I saw wasn’t a slingers game. I think it was a Satria Muda vs KL.
@LES: That filipino commentator is Anthony Suntay..Im my oponion i think he is the only good commentator in ABL..
Well it is time to get commentator’s who know BB really well & all the players information, I don’t care what nationality he/she is!! I mean how hard can it be? There are only 6 Teams to get to know for goodness sakes… Fire him if he can’t research the players & get the crowd & viewers excited! Too many can do this job much better I am sure of it….
I am glad the Dragon’s fan club made the trip.. Unfortunately that might have been what the Team needed to win the Slingers! lol You will get them next time Slingers!!!
The ABL has alot of work ahead, this being their first year. I am sure someone who is heading up the ABL is reading these comments & gets some real life feedback from all of the team fans out there! It is the fanbase that will keep the ABL growing too! Peace out!
The quality of the commentators is not the biggest concern now.
It seems like the Patriots game yesterday was not even televised in Philippine TV.
I don’t know what their marketing strategy is. Maybe they’ll rely on paying fans at the venue.
I’d settle for a poorly broadcasted game or even a youtube upload from a cell phone/handy cam rather than the Fiba LiveStats.
i even tried to open up a discussion about abl with my basketball friends and they are not aware this league has been going on for 2 months now.. considering one of them played with team b of UE where lingganay of kl, acuna and espiritu of pp came.
UE has just been eliminated in the elite 8 of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League.
Maybe the Patriots can now acquire hotshot Paul Lee.
@3stars, believe me people will not be interested in a basketball league until they see games. Try taking some of them to a game and maybe that’ll change their minds. I’ve also asked some workmates about the ABL and their surprised that some of the UE players and even Baclao is in the ABL. They thought these players are currently playing for PBL.
Wow! I didn’t know that this league is close to being unknown in Philippines. Considering that the Philippines is the hotbed of Basketball in the ASEAN region.
I agree with everyone here. Definitely the marketing is poor, and at the same time, the Philippines had to many leagues from the scholastic leagues in the high school level, to the collegiate level, and all the way in the pro-level. Of course, there’s the PBA too.