12 minute read
AMADOU GALLO FALL
In an exclusive interview Amadou Gallo Fall, President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), tells Yasemen Kaner-White how he started to play basketball and how it has led him to be in the position to use the game as a vehicle to foster raw talent and give the youth of today opportunities that they may not have had, as well as grow economies in the continent of Africa and beyond.
Amadou Gallo Fall (middle) at the Teams Shirt Presentation before the inaugral Basketball League Africa Championship in Kigali, Rwanda, May 2021.
YKW: The first question I’d love to kick off with is what does it mean to you being the President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL)?
AGF: I think it’s really perhaps what it means to have the blessing to fulfil and continue to honour what turned out to reveal itself as almost like a lifelong mission, so just even being appointed as NBA Africa, MD and moving to South Africa in 2010, to open the office at the time, I think I was posed a somewhat similar question, and I said the job kind of encapsulated all my passions, so it’s almost like a dream job. I’m passionate about Africa, particularly about youth development, obviously passionate about basketball, and I have a chance to contribute and hopefully have an impact on them all. The BAL is a culmination of many decades of work on the continent that the NBA and many other people have carried on to grow the game, and most importantly, use it as a conduit to empower youth. Spending 10 years in Johannesburg, having launched NBA in Africa and taken many steps in the development of basketball and also the NBA across the continent. This league now kind of almost completes the pathway. So the president of this league is a tremendous honour and something that I am super excited about moving forward to, after a very successful inaugural season to launch season two of the BAL.
YKW: How, in terms of business, does the Basketball African League compare to other sports leagues, in your opinion?
AGF: Well we are in our second season and we are very committed to growing this league into one of the best professional basketball leagues in the world and one of the best professional sports leagues. So, you know, we really don’t want to get into any comparisons, I think we like our chances and focus on what we do best and really having the benefit of the NBA world-class expertise, in terms of the best professional sports league, when it comes to operating and commercialising a sport, this is a leverage for us. This is an enabler and also the partnership between NBA and FIFA to grow this league gave us a chance to really do something special here.”
YKW: What are some of the key milestones of the Basketball Africa League during the inaugural season?
AGF: First, being able to start off on May 16th 2021 and having all 12 teams in a bubble environment, in Kigali, obviously, we had to operate in the midst of a global pandemic, I think, just our number one priority was to make sure we conduct our season with the health and safety of everybody as our top priorities and we were able to achieve this with a safe tournament and everybody went home safe. Zamalek winning as the first team to win the historic first season of BAL is always going to remain something of importance in our books. Our games being carried in 215 countries and in 15 languages and to have the global audience for a first year product is something that was very encouraging, we had some big personalities attending for the first season such as President Macron showing the convening power of sports and basketball and being part of this historic event on a personal level was very gratifying.
This is something that is very personal to me in terms of continuing to not just grow basketball, but provide opportunities through sports to young people, because that’s the chance I had, and this is really one of the key drivers. It’s about how do you continue to create pathways for young people to journey into success. I think this league gives us an opportunity to build an industry in basketball and really contribute to, and anchor, the robust sports business industry in Africa. I think sports as an industry should be noted by decision makers and stakeholders because, I’m not saying sport solves all the problems of the world but when you think of sport, as we think about it, and you think about the basketball league, as a place where all the creative industries come together, to create the same product
Amadou Gallo Fall presents the Basketball Africa League Championship Trophy to the Captain of Zamalek of Egypt after they beat US Monastir of Tunisia in the finals game at the Kigali Arena, Rwanda, May 2021.
that fans of all ages can enjoy. This industry is going to create jobs, boost tourism, spur on infrastructure development because more countries are interested in building arenas, because these arenas can be used for multiple purposes, in areas that speak to youth, you know, that young people are interested in and also in areas that are in Africa. There is a clear advantage when it comes to music and fashion, and sports. The opportunity to bring people together around our league is what is super exciting. I think that’s the number one milestone and also our endeavour that we want to push forward.
YKW: It’s creating communities really, in many ways and then the next question is, what are the plans for the new BAL season and for the league as a whole?
AGF: Well, just in terms of second season, we’ve had a lot of very strong achievements in the initial season such as sheer visibility and gaining a global audience, there is awareness of us. Now, it’s about really starting the work of expanding the footprint and I think in season two, that’s the number one priority, instead of playing all the games on one site, we’re going to be playing in different countries which is what we initially envisaged, which will allow more fans to see the product but obviously, we had to pause the first season because of covid. Now we will be playing in three, I think that’s a big step from year one. We’re launching in Dakar on the 15th of March, then we’re going to Cairo from April 9th to April 19th and then we take the top eight teams to Kigali for the finals and that will be from May 21st to May 28th. So that’s, I think, a big change and really to experience different cultures and showcase different African cities. In terms of compositions of the teams, we have seven new teams in the league and four new countries that are participating. Again, it’s really about growing the footprint touching as many geographies and people as possible. From an engagement standpoint, we have a world class roster of partners that are coming back and we are going to add more to the roster. From a basketball standpoint, we’re going to continue to attract global talent and talent from all across Africa in the diaspora, because of the initial first season and how successful it was. So I expect that the competition is going to be even harder and better. So we have positioned ourselves for long term success both in terms of where we are heading from a partnership
standpoint, from an exposure standpoint, and from a truly basketball standpoint with new teams and new countries added and a growing talent base.
YKW: Thank you, and the next question is probably more on a personal level and it’s how did you first get into basketball? Why basketball over anything else?
AGF: Growing up in Africa, we all kick a ball first and start playing football, because basketball is perceived as a big city sport, because generally, that’s where the courts are. So I didn’t have the opportunity to get a lot of practice in earlier on. It was really by the time I was going into my teens, that is when I started because I was taller than most of my friends and people would suggest it and I thought ‘hey, you know, maybe I should try this out’. But mainly, I think what precipitated everything was my older brother Mamadou who was studying in France at the time and he brought me a basketball because he was being stopped in the streets by people in basketball asking him to come and play – he is even taller than me. So once I have the ball, and I had access to a court at the high school I started going to, I’d practice shooting. I’d climb the fence to continue practicing out of class but the watchman would see me and chase me out. I always wonder, you know, why would you have a court but not allow young people to use it and I think maybe this is one of the things that drives me to want to make the game accessible to young people at an early age. I wonder sometimes what if I had started playing at age six, seven or eight - what type of player would I have become.
YKW: I think you’ve done pretty well!
AGF: Yeah, no, exactly, I made the most out of the opportunity but I started late, but still I’m saying I have no regrets, these things happen as it was supposed to happen, I think it gave me maybe that drive and passion about making sure younger generations don’t have those same barriers. So that’s the big part of how I got into the game, almost by chance. I then got a full scholarship to go to the US and play the game and that is really what opened up everything. It was a chance encounter, a Peace Corps volunteer, Kevin Lineberger, met me and went back to DC and spoke with a coach at the University of Columbia, who then sent me full scholarship letter without even me seeing me play! and that was only because he was told that I’m six foot eight and I could jump out of the building. I thought how many young people across the continent who are perhaps even bigger than I am but were never seen or discovered, so to speak, similar to Hakeem Olajuwon or Dikembe Mutombo, you wonder would have happened to two of the best players of the game not just from Africa, but around the world who are both in the Hall of Fame, who could have probably been Crabs and fish on Tanji Beachmissed, if also they didn’t get chances. YKW: So with a little bit of luck, I think that’s how it is in a lot of careers, isn’t it - a bit of luck and hard work as well
AGF: Exactly, and I think it’s the right place at the right times, but now we have had that, we want to become more intentional about creating a path. We are intentionally making the sport accessible, finding ways to build courts, train coaches, study the sport and grow it. We partner likeminded people and entities and are building a foundation so the talent emerges naturally. When you start becoming more intentional, you see the massive talent pool on the continent. You see what’s happening is the number of players from the continent are going into the NBA and this is only going to continue to grow”.
YKW: What do you think needs to be put in place to further grow the game of basketball across the African continent in particular, are there are any specific things you’re planning to do or do you feel like everything’s going smooth and you’re going in the right direction?
AGF: I think we need to continue to build capacity, we are only scratching the surface, yes we had a successful launch of our inaugural season, there’s talent everywhere but we have to make sure that the structures are in place both from an administrative standpoint and also from a technical expertise standpoint. You have players but you have to have coaches who are highly trained in skill development, we have to have very strong administrators of the sport and this is where our partnership with FIFA is going to come into play, because we’re going to work together to build capacities with the national federations. We want to professionalise the entire system and attract the private sector into these leagues because ultimately, that’s what is going to be the key differentiator. Most of the clubs right now are social clubs or sponsored by corporate entities, so not really entities that are run as professional sports organisations, so we know that there’s a long way to go.
The initial interest and support we have received is very encouraging, it is about capacity building and that’s where our biggest focus is on and off the court. Then you have to be able to sustain the effort and initiative and all that comes at a cost. So how do you make sure that you get the right partners that are interested in growing this sport and building an industry, we need to get it to a point where there is tremendous value created by all parties involved. First, you want to make sure that players from the continent see this league as a primary option. Obviously, they can go to the NBA but there’s a very small percentage of players that go to the NBA, so ultimately we want to continue to create big events.
I think our initial season last year showed that it is possible to do events of world class standard. It is the sports industry in Africa that you need to continue to build momentum for and then we all benefit, it is that saying ‘rising tides lift all boats’. For me, I look at that saying certainly relating to basketball, because as the basketball continues to flourish, all the local leagues in the different countries are going to get much better because it’s a Champions League, you better win your local league in order to qualify. So I see teams in a particular country, getting more focused on how they improve, how they are structured for a chance to win or participate. As with football and other sports in Africa, they are stronger when they organise events of global stature which means more partners of import are involved with the continent and the pool of partnerships gets bigger. As we improve our ability to stage big events and give value to partners, we know they are going to be interested in basketball as well.
