Former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala posted recently on Twitter that the case of the PBA referee who got kicked out of the bubble for a bad call and that of Calvin Abueva again show the need of the players and the referees in Asia’s first professional basketball league to band together to protect their rights.
I agree. A powerful players’ union could have prevented the unprecedented indefinite ban imposed on Abueva last year and a functioning referees union can make sure a capricious ban for a missed call won’t happen.
But are we going to see that happen though? Highly unlikely. There are so many factors why it won’t happen, plus we only have to study the case of Liza Soberano for some to be discouraged in fighting for their rights.
There was a players’ association in the PBA but it seemed to function in name only. We never had a functioning players’ union that functions like the NBA players’ union and despite the advantages of having one, I don’t think we’ll ever see one. With so few slots in the professional league controlled by a few owners, power relations lie heavily on the owners. It would have to take a united effort from all the players, not just the PBA players, to be able to have one.
Just imagine what happened to Major League Baseball during a players’ strike a couple of decades ago. The owners looked for replacement players but nobody came (which, some say, was one of the reasons Michael Jordan cut short his baseball career.) Will that hold true in the Philippines? Say if the PBA players do hold a strike or even threaten one to push a point, it’s almost a guarantee that there’d be at least two players eager to take the place of one striking player. So, scratch that point.
The same is true in the case of the PBA refs, which are even fewer compared to the players.
Then there’s the Liza Soberano case. The actress spoke up about women’s rights after she got harassed online and immediately faced more harassment and was even tagged by a general as a potential rebel.
Just for speaking out.
Now imagine if a bunch of PBA players start speaking about labor rights—highly unlikely given how right-wing most players are—and you’d have a fresh target for red-tagging by government agents who love to tag anyone who speaks out as a rebel.
That will kill any movement for a players’ union.
So what has to change for that to happen? Something as basic as acknowledging the right to speak out. And in the current atmosphere, that is highly unlikely.