The National Collegiate Athletic Association of the Philippines (NCAA) has announced earlier this week that foreign athletes will no longer be allowed to play in the league starting 2020.
Previously, the NCAA allowed teams to have two foreign players each, also called “imports.”
Foreign players have dominated the senior division’s basketball competition. In fact two seasons ago, Jio Jalalon was the only Filipino player in the mythical five, while the rest were imports.
By removing imports, the NCAA believes the playing field will be leveled. Said the league’s management committee chairman Frank Gusi: “Not having any foreign player makes participation of teams almost equal.”
However, half-Filipinos will still be allowed to participate in the league. Said Gusi in Filipino: “That’s okay. As long as you have Filipino blood, your mother or father is a Filipino.”
NCAA’s announcement did not sit well with one of the former players of another collegiate league, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
Cameroonian Ben Mbala, who was UAAP’s two-time MVP, described the rule as “harsh.”
He told Rappler, “All over the world, there are players from everywhere. Teams are mixed. We haven’t had this problem of foreign student-players being treated or looked at [differently], but right now, because they have one or two foreign players in the team composed of, let’s say, 15 or more players, that’s not even one-third of the team. I feel like it’s a little bit of a racist connotation.”
Sports blogger Klyde Manansala also disagrees with the NCAA. He wrote in his blog: “[L]osing foreigners could water down the competitiveness they provide to the leagues or lose the chance to adjust their style of play given the size and athleticism of these foreigners. These student-athlete foreigners aren’t just basketball players, they’re staying for their education too. Imports have also been in the league for a couple of years already so why ban them now?”
A Reddit commenter on the thread discussing the issue agrees with Manansala.
User ryansumo wrote: “Foreign born players help local players up their game. Some restrictions can apply for balancing, but an outright ban is foolish.”
Another user by the name of runaway4231 said genes play a role in the local athletes’ performance.
He wrote: “I doubt this will improve the grassroots programs. Will more playing time for local bigs improve their game when they’re playing against other mediocre local bigs? It’s not the foreign players that’s (sic) stopping Philippines from producing more [June Mar] Fajardos. It’s genetics.”
NCAA’s announcement comes at the heels of the recent news that Manny Pacquiao’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League is sticking to its rule that no foreigners will be allowed to be play for any of its teams.
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