Feud Brewing Over Ethnic Korean Basketball Players
By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
A feud is brewing over the decision to stage a draft for ethnic Koreans in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) after a string of college-level players failed to make the breakthrough into the professional set-up.
Players and coaches at the Korea University Basketball Federation (KUBF) stormed out of Geomungo Hall during the 2009 KBL Rookie Draft in Seoul, Tuesday.
The process was going well ― until the Ulsan Mobis head coach Yoo Jae-hak gave up his team's right for the 8th pick in the first round. Suddenly, all of the gathered players and coaches stood up and left the hall.
They returned after 20 minutes, but the atmosphere had descended into bad feeling. ``Pick up more players,'' some fans shouted.
Eventually, the pro teams picked 17 players, but the figure is the lowest since 2004.
The KUBF coaches claimed that the reason behind the low number was that the teams had already chosen five players from the first ever ethnic draft, Monday.
``The KBL didn't say anything to us. We were excluded from the discussions. Chung-Ang University's Park Sung-jin was picked first, but, actually, he is the No. 6 pick because pro teams have already selected five players," said Kyung Hee University basketball head coach Choi Bu-young, 56.
There were other more vocal dissenting voices.
``All the college players are like my sons. I'm upset that many university players were not drafted, though all of my Myongji University players went to the pro league,'' said Park Sang-kwan, headman of Myongji University.
All of the Seoul-based university's players were selected in the draft.
``I don't think ethnic Korean players are real Koreans. They even do not know the national anthem. It is wrong to give them Korean player's status," Park added.
Rookie players also expressed their disappointment.
``We trained hard to go to the pro league, but more than half of them failed to make it. We started basketball when we were at elementary school. We do not know anything but basketball. Where should my fellow players go?'' lashed out Myongji University's Park Dae-nam, chosen by the Samsung Thunders.
Forty university players applied for the draft, but only 17 of them were picked, which accounts for just 42.5 percent.
``I hope the KBL will revise the regulation on the ethnic Korean draft so that many Korean players can play pro,'' Park added.
``The pro league is our only hope. Is this reward of our 10-year efforts? I cannot understand that the KBL regards foreigners as Korean just because they are ethnic Koreans,'' Korea University player Choi Yun-ho argued.
A family member of a player also questioned the draft policy.
``I cannot understand why foreigners play in the Korean pro league, instead of Koreans,'' Jeon Sool-ok said. Jeon, 60, is the aunt of Myongji University player Byun Hyun-soo, who went fourth in the first round to the SK Knights.
But pro league coaches and a KBL representative had different views on the issue.
``I totally understand what the college coaches say," the ET Land BlackSlamer head coach Choi Hee-am, who once led Yonsei University, from 1986 to 2001, said.
``We need to fix something bad in the ethnic Korean draft, but we also did something we could for the KUBF by picking up 17 players.''
KBL marketing and public relations director Lee Hoon-sang added, ``I think the KBL and the KUBF need to discuss the issue.
``We hired 17 players. We did our best. I'm sorry that coaches and players at the KUBF deserted the hall during the draft. It is a pro league. We hire when we need players. If we pick players more than we need, then we should release other players or let them go to do military service. It is ironic to hire someone only to fire others, isn't it?''