THE history of basketball began with its invention in 1958.
Basketball was never played by the natives until 1958 in fact it was commonly played by the Chinese in the greater Suva area.
In today’s edition, we will take a tour down memory lane and find out how basketball began in the country.
This week, a team from The Fiji Times managed to catch up with former Basketball Fiji president and Fiji National Basketball Association founder Fred Caine who supplied all the information to this newspaper.
Looking back Caine said the Fiji National Basketball Association was founded in 1966 with Suva Basketball Association as the pioneer association in the country.
Back in the days, he said, Suva produced Fiji reps who represented Fiji at the 1963 South Pacific Games held in Suva, where Fiji won the gold medal.
The late Peter Seeto founded basketball in Fiji; he was also the first president followed by the late John Foster while Hillary Pickering was one of the committee members of the pioneer office bearers for the association.
He said the first indoor court was built on Taveuni but it was not used for the purpose until now.
“Lautoka was the second association formed in Fiji. In 1964, it moved to Taveuni then to Vatukoula in 1965, it was introduced in Nadi in 1966 before the Fiji Indoor Basketball Association was formed,” Caine said.
“Its name changed to Fiji Basketball Association before it was recently changed to Basketball Fiji in the new millennium.”
Caine wished that basketball could be revived like it used to be in the late 1950s.
“I saw basketball from 1958. Today basketball has gone down. It’s very expensive now to play the sport and that’s one of the reasons the sport has dropped.
“At that time Raiwaqa was in a very radical situation and when we took over basketball in Raiwaqa crime dropped down to zero because the youths had something to do and volleyball was also very strong in those days,” Caine said.
Looking back he said the pictures brought back fond memories of how the sport started in Fiji.
He said it was a privilege to be part of the development of the sport during those days.
“It is sad that basketball is not very popular despite being more than 40 years.
“It is a minor sport but I believe more could be done to further develop the sport and bring back that stiff competition that it’s known for in the past decades.”
Caine confirmed that UGLA basketball club from Auckland, New Zealand was the first overseas team to tour the country for five years in a row. Then the Police club from New South Wales, Australia, toured the country for three years in a row, competing against local clubs.
He said Namoli club was a force to reckon with in domestic competition and led by power shooter Apolosi Tora. Namoli club represented Lautoka in the national championship and scooped the title.
He said the sport needed lots of upgrading and was still trying to settle on both legs.
Caine added the locals learnt the game from the Chinese and now most locals have mastered the sport, gradually.
He said renowned players back in the days include the late Marica Mudunavonu, a lady who believed in strong competition and solid leadership.
Caine said the late Mudunavonu represented Suva for many years which led her to be in the Fiji team and captain the team to the 1983 Commonwealth championship held in New Zealand where Fiji won bronze.
“We had strong clubs like the Drevula Club founded in 1974, Venture Club which was founded by the late Patrick Cheer, Marist and White Fire to name a few.”
In 1978 Caine said he took the first national team to China with majority of the players from the Raiwaqa club and the Western Division.
The pioneers
A report by The Fiji Times on Saturday, January 25, 2014 titled “The birth of basketball in Fiji” reported that the first group of Fiji basketball reps represented Fiji at the Noumea South Pacific Games in 1966 where Fiji was bundled out of the medal playoffs.
This team had Rodney and Keith Fong, and Victor Herritage, to name a few.
It was the first national team to grace the international stage. Fiji was represented at the 1963 SPG at Buckhurst Park in Suva where we won gold. This team was made up of players from the Suva Indoor Basketball Association because Basketball Fiji had yet to be formed. We cannot really call this a national team because it was only represented by Suva. But in 1966, Fiji’s first basketball team was selected from Lautoka, Vatukoula, Suva, Nadi, Lami, Raiwaqa and Taveuni. We struggled against Tahiti and New Caledonia who fielded players from France during the SPG in Noumea. However, it was a stepping stone to where our national team is today.
First tour
Fiji’s first tour outside the Pacific was in 1978 to China. The normal overseas tours were during the SPG to South Pacific countries. This tour marked a historical occasion for Basketball Fiji. The side had the services of Tamana Rasova, Joe Gock, Wame Gavidi, Warrick Smith and Ratu Vili Cinavilakeba.
In this game, Fiji took the China Mainland and Southland teams to the wire with explosive performances. Fiji’s tallest player was 6 feet 2 inches while that was the shortest player from the opposing teams. In a period of 40 minutes, 204 points were scored, Fiji lost narrowly 101-103 to the Southland team and also to the Mainland side.
Fiji’s technique was to play ground ball which made the tall Chinese struggle to contain Fiji.
Yasawa man, Apolosi Tora, who played for Namoli in the Lautoka Basketball Association competition, was probably the best shooter in Fiji, according to former Basketball Fiji president and manager Fred Caine.
Fiji’s squad was selected from more than 400 players while China’s players were selected from among millions.
Looking back Caine said this team was one of the best teams produced by Fiji.
He said discipline in the side was one of the key elements that steered Fiji to a near perfect game against China. He said players such as Tora and Smith were given stern warnings to perform at training or face the axe.
“All these players, I always warned them, if they were not fit, they would not be selected,” Caine said.
“That is one of the reasons why this team performed above expectations and shocked the crowd on that day in China.”
Team: Ratu Vili Cinavilakeba, Joe Gock (v/c), Henry Gock, Major Kabakoro, Warrick Smith (c), Wame Gavidi, Apolosi Tora, Master Viliame, Joe Kabakoro, Salimoni Tamana Rasova, Gabriel Cheer; Coach: Patrick Cheer; Manager: Fred Caine
