Tony Fernandes CEO Blog

Well, it’s been five weeks into the season and the hoopla seems to be catching.

I’m talking, of course, about the ASEAN Basketball League (full disclosure: I’m chairman of the ABL). It has taken us just over a year to get the ABL started. It was tough going at times, but we persevered and it was great to see the first regional sports league in ASEAN tip off in Jakarta. Five weeks into the season, and it’s great to see the response from fans.

I’ve always felt that it’s not enough for us here in ASEAN to merely follow the fortunes of sports teams from elsewhere – be it in football, basketball, F1. We need to create our own teams, cheer our own heroes, celebrate when we win, curse when we lose and given the diversity in ASEAN, we can do both in a variety of languages and customs!

It’s also about nurturing talent and providing opportunities for our people to compete against the best in the region – and eventually, the world.

All the team owners are dedicated to developing the game in their respective countries. We want to show the young, the talented and the committed that you can create a future for yourself playing the sport that you love.

The six teams involved – from the Barracudas from Brunei, KL Dragons from Malaysia, Satria Muda from Jakarta, The Philippine Patriots from Manila, the Singapore Slingers and the Thailand Tigers – have been putting on quite a show.

The fans are turning out in growing numbers at the stadiums where the games are played. There were 1,000 people loudly cheering at a game recently between the Singapore Slingers and the Philippine Patriots. And why not? It’s affordable family entertainment. The action is fast and furious with teams consisting of locals and a limited number of imports playing with passion.

The ABL games are also broadcast live on ESPN on weekday nights and late afternoon on Saturday. You must have caught some of them while channel surfing at home. If you haven’t, tune in some time. Better yet, come on down to the stadiums and catch a game live. Who knows? You may one day be able to say that you watched a future Michael Jordan in action!

Head on over to aseanbasketballleague.com for more details. Hope to see you at a game soon!