Romanian basketball, the past and the future.
by Constantin Mircea

We are now living in the 21st century...
The period which followed the second world war brought the communist system to power in Romania. This had significant impact in all aspects of life, including sports. The development of sport was made for popularity and high performance oriented training lost it’s fame.
Under these circumstances, in the 50's, the men and women national basketball championships began. During those times the level of sports was not too high neither in Romania, nor internationally. There were athletes who belonged to the national basketball, handball and volleyball simultaneously. This did not mean that they were not good athletes, but the high performance which we have become accustomed to nowadays was missing.
The moments of the '50's seem now interesting. In the men competition, the first place was taken by "Locomotiva PTT" , followed by "Metalul 23 August", "Dinamo Bucuresti", "Stiinta CSU", "Banca B.R.P.R, "CCA (which later became "Steaua Bucuresti"), "Locomotiva CFR"( today's "Rapid Bucuresti"), "Flacara", "Progresul SPC" and "Flamura Rosie Cluj". In the women competition there were a couple of teams which used to make the final rounds and decide the rankings: "Stiinta Bucuresti", "Locomotiva CFR", "Flamura Rosie Cluj", "Solidaritatea Oradea", "Simo-Seza Tg. Mures", "Progresul I CAS". Out of these some can still be found today in the first division ("Steaua" , "Dinamo" and "Rapid"). Internationally, the results were not so good, which prompted Romanian Basketball Federation's decision to limit the participation in the international competitions.
Hard years followed, under a totalitarian regime...
The making of Romanian Revolution, which took place in December 1989, and which changed the communist system, had a big role in the development of Romanian sports, and implicitly of the Romanian basketball. Now, after more than ten years, the situation has completely changed.
The goal of the current national basketball championship is to bring into a broad competition the best teams in the country and to train the national team players at the level required by the international competitions. There are two basketball leagues for both men and women : A (the professional league) and B (the amateur league).
For the 2001-2002 season, 14 teams belong to the men professional league (A), which play in a home-away system, followed by play-off (1-8) and play-out (9-14). At the and of the season, the two teams ranked last are moved to the amateur league (B). Their places are taken by the two teams ranked first in the amateur league. The women professional league (A) is composed of 10 teams which play in a home-away system. The first 8 teams in the rankings go to the play-off and the last two have to play against the first ranked teams in the amateur (B) league in order to decide who stays in the A league.
In this context, the Romanian basketball is on an ascendant trend. True, not at such a high degree as the basketball in other countries, but nevertheless the besketball is constantly improving and getting more popularity.
The latest accomplishments in international competitions of both men and women teams prove this. The men national team reached the semi-final in the qualifiers for the EURO 2003 which will be held in Sweden and the women national team qualified and played in the European Championship. For sure, the players who are part of foreign teams had a big role in achieving these results, but we shouldn't forget, and actually we should commend the input provided by the local players. The fact that they too played very well proves that the level of performance in the Romanian basketball has increased. Although there isn't too much monetary investment being made in basketball, the fact that this sport is not yet well presented by the media (which doesn't help to attract potential sponsors), and the fact that there aren't enough good coaches at all levels, still the Romanians are playing a better basketball these days. We have a true stream of energy and a big chance to write our names in the golden book of world basketball."