infoGIBA
Final Results of a Study on the working condition Professional Basketball players in the EU by Anne Marie Litt
There exists a common thought which looks at the working life of a professional athlete as consisting of fame, big earnings, little exertion and an entertaining working environment with no problems at all. All in all, the status enjoyed by a privileged person, no more and no less. The results of this survey often show the contrary. Following the Lisbon Treaty and the publication of the White Book, the European Community will invest in several initiatives to have an idea of the actual state of the conditions of sports professionals. UBE, the pan Union of European Basketball Players Associa-
tions, which was formed in 1991, was commissioned and financed by Community Funds to conduct a poll on the working conditions of professional Basketball players. Presently, the members forming UBE are Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, The Netherlands, Portugal and Israel, which are being joined by Finland and Turkey, besides other States which have yet to set up their own players’ associations but which already attend UBE activities. Also participating as supporters of this important UBE/EU project are GIBA (Italy), SP.IN (Germany), ABP (Spain), SNB (France),
To whom have we sent the questionnaires and what were their replies:
PSAK (Greece) and BBA (Belgium). Its organisation and realisation have been entrusted to Project Manager Walter Palmer and Anne Marie Litt. The questionnaire sent to all players of the greatest leagues and National Male and Female teams of all EU countries has been translated into the 27 EU languages and the results, which can be seen in the publication “End Result Study of the Working Condition Professional Basketball players in European Union” Grant VS/2008/027, have disclosed somewhat unexpected situations.
Who gave us a reply: Replies according to age: the replies we received on the basis of age witness to the short duration of the players’ track record. Only very few players are able to play after reaching 35 years. Our study shows only 1.6% of the interviewees as being more than 35 years old.
· The results and general distributions have been divided by sex, age, nationality, and participation of the national team. · Response rate: 576 answers to the survey over 3000 questionnaires spread at a response rate of 19.2%. The 3000 questionnaires have been delivered to both men and women of the national teams and of two teams for each nation’s league.
Reply by gender : Of 444 interviewees, 78% were male. 123 interviewees (22%) were female. Comparison between age distribution by gender. The results of this survey show that there exists a number of players who are more senior among women than men. When asked to give the age when players should stop playing, men have replied at age 31.9 and women at age 25.7.
· 30 destination countries (180 teams). Replies have come from players hailing from 106 different club teams. · Interview analyses
Some Personal Data regarding the interviewees:
· Number of replies for each country
Civil Status: There has been a remarkable difference between men and women. 29% of men said they were married, while for women it was only 7%. Players who have children: There is a big difference between men and women. Only 2% of women have children, compared to 25% of men.
· The findings have been sent to the 27 EU countries and to the 3 candidate countries. Replies arrived from 16 countries. As foreseen, the participation level has been much greater in those countries where there was an association of a UBE member country
22