□ Xinhua News Agency reporter Luo Yu
The total prize money exceeds 200,000 yuan; the participating players include CBA, NBL retired and active athletes; the maximum number of offline and online viewers is more than 5,000 and more than 50,000… A portrait of a rural basketball game independently organized by a small mountain village in Tuen.
Along with the “hot” this summer, there is also the rural basketball in Guizhou. This year, Datun Village embarked on a differentiated and market-oriented road by increasing the amount of bonuses, setting up a “foreign aid” system, implementing offline ticket sales and online paid viewing, setting off a “basketball storm”.
Countryside “Basketball Storm”
“The first to sixth prizes are set up in the competition, with a total bonus of over 200,000 yuan, of which the first, second and third place prizes are 100,000 yuan, 60,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan respectively.” Datun Village National Fitness “Rural Revitalization” in 2022 According to Zhu Qinsong, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Cup Basketball Tournament, this is the highest prize money ever awarded in a basketball tournament in Datun Village.
Datun, a small mountain village located in Leping Town, Pingba District, Anshun City, Guizhou Province, has 625 households and 2,136 people. In recent years, Datun Village has become popular on the Internet due to the continuous holding of high-level rural basketball games.
Zhu Qinsong introduced that this year Datun Village implemented the “3+2 (3 players from the province and 2 foreign players from outside the province)” system, which attracted 28 participating teams from various cities and states in Guizhou. , the players include retired and active athletes from leagues such as CBA, NBL, and CUBA.
Dong Jian, a player from the NBL Shaanxi Xinda team, is one of the “foreign aids” of the participating teams’ “three-point land”. His team won the runner-up by three points in the finals on August 5. “After playing six games before and following, I feel that the level of competition in the Datun Village basketball game is quite high.” He said that the audience was also very enthusiastic, especially at the final scene, the venue was full, more than 5,000 spectators cheered at the same time, and the atmosphere was warm.
“When it was an open-air stadium in the past, the maximum number of spectators exceeded 10,000.” Zhu Qinsong said that following Datun Village converted the stadium into a closed arena this year, since the game started on July 18, the average number of spectators per night has been regarding 3000 people. Nearly 80-year-old villager Xue Guoqiang has not missed almost every match. “The game is played at 8 o’clock every night, and I come to occupy a seat at around 7 o’clock every night.” He said: “The players are of high level and the game is beautiful.”
Behind the “cultural tradition”
“Basketball games are an important part of rural activities in Guizhou and have become a cultural tradition.” Zhu Yuchang, a 63-year-old villager, said that taking Datun Village as an example, the local area began to hold basketball as early as the 1950s. In the 1980s, the competition was changed to be held every four years in the Spring Festival, called “championship”; in recent years, it was changed to be held every summer and autumn.
“The prizes have been increasing in weight from the earliest sportswear, bicycles, TV sets, motorcycles, etc. to today’s cash,” said Zhu Yuchang.
Zhu Yuchang introduced that the village has rebuilt, transformed and upgraded the basketball court many times. “I used wooden backboards to play in the mud for the first time. Although the conditions were poor, everyone was very enthusiastic.” He said that the current basketball hall has been built and improved through fundraising in the village and financial support from the East and the West, and lighting has been installed. , cooling system, timer and scoring display and other specialized system equipment, “the constantly improving hardware level has laid a solid foundation for the development of basketball games”.
Jing Qiwei, director of the Group Division of the Sports Bureau of Guizhou Province, said that, like the semi-finals of the Guizhou Beautiful Village Basketball League in Taipan Township, Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, the same as the Qiandongnan Prefecture semi-finals, whether it is the government setting up the stage, the masses Singing is still the masses setting up the stage and singing by themselves. Behind the fire of the rural basketball game is the unremitting pursuit of the masses for a better life.
Behind this, it is even more inseparable from the unremitting efforts of governments at all levels.
It is reported that in 2006, the State Sports General Administration and other departments officially launched the peasant sports fitness project, with the administrative village as the main implementation object, and the basic construction includes a concrete standard basketball court. By the end of 2020, Guizhou has achieved full coverage of agricultural sports projects in 15,168 administrative villages across the province, creating conditions for rural competitions.
Professional + Market
With hardware support, strong software support is also required.
Liu Zhenzheng, the first secretary of Datun Village in the village, said that holding a village basketball game is a test of a place’s organizational ability, economic ability and professional level. , the operation of the event is prone to problems on and off the field; there is no professional level, and it is impossible to deal with the disputes that may arise in the game…”
In order to solve these problems, this year, Datun Village has tried to take a market-oriented basketball game operation road: set up a basketball operation company to be responsible for offline ticket sales and online paid viewing; hire professional security, referee, medical and other teams; Organizing committee, logistics team, etc., to create a professional management and organizational structure for the operation of rural basketball games.
“The implementation of offline tickets and online paid viewing is to balance the cost of the event.” Zhu Qinli, executive director of the village-level cooperative in Datun Village, introduced that the cost of the Datun basketball game every year is as high as several hundred thousand yuan, all of which are funded by the village. Not small. After the market-oriented reform, the cost of offline tickets and online payment revenue has been covered, and some income has been generated to promote the sustainable development of the event.
At the same time, professional referees and other teams ensure the fairness of the game. “Today’s rural basketball game is not only an entertainment event, but its competitiveness is also improving. Professional teams are in charge to resolve disputes.” Zhu Qinsong said, “Only when the game is fair and equitable, can it have long-term vitality.”
