
The NBL foreign players thread
Hey Cram can you please share with us the successful melbourne tigers junior pathway

PeterJohn
Actors’ Equity
“A vicious brouhaha is brewing in the Australian entertainment industry after a series of local producers cast international performers in lead roles in a series of Australian musicals.
The uneasy feeling began when Disney announced their casting for their upcoming Australian production of Aladdin with Broadway performer Michael James Scott cast as The Genie.”
(Source: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/aussie-actors-miss-out-on-roles-to-broadway-blow-ins-20160519-goz7xi.html)
That would be the equivalent of an import being the star player, as Cotton is.
The actual laws re this are at:
https://www.arts.gov.au/file/83/download?token=Qyaqohh1
But it’s from 2000.
Copy n paste, not inside knowledge.

Yeah you're right. We wouldn't want the Australian league to give kids an opportunity to play professional sport. We should just eliminate import restrictions all together. If they're good enough they're good enough right?

The benchmark that came to mind for me was the Australian content requirement for television - 55% between 6pm and midnight. That treats NZ content as local, same as NBL.
55% of an 11 player roster would be 6 players. So that would leave up to 5 players from overseas. That tallies with the current NBL rules.
This sort of content rule is relevant, I think, because NBL, and professional sport generally, are now more aligned with the entertainment and media industry, rather than an extension of community sports.
Does anyone know if there are rules governing staging of other live entertainment in Australia, which might require employment of local actors and performers? They might be better benchmarks to compare with.

Keep the rules the way they are, You have to have something to aspire to as a kid. If we only allow 2 imports/foreign players per roster we give a false sense of hope for kids coming through that they are upto the grade, when they should be banging down the door of clubs showing they deserve to be there on merit and not just making up a local player quota.


Naturalised players and foreign born Aussies are Aussies. No issue with them at all. Kiwis are local in this league too. All others should be restricted to the standard 2 import places.
This is an Aussie/Kiwi league. That, and the fact that its accessible due to distance are literally the only advantages it has over much better quality leagues, which are fully accessible to watch online these days.

I'd like to see if there's a way for each team to recruit one Asian player (mostly Chinese) as a marquee player even if they aren't quite good enough to be an import. The fact the CBA runs at the same time as the NBL is a problem though, unless the NBL/CBA allow for 10 game contracts or buys the players outright.
India, Iran, Japan, Phillipines, Korea also have at least 1-2 players who could make an NBL roster.
The audience this would generate would be huuuuge.

