The closure of one of the most historic pediments in America contrasts with the creation of a new tournament in Bizkaia that gives hope to the leading basket
Around the sixties, Guillermo Amutxastegi, born in Ondarroa and one of the most charismatic basket players in history, spent a couple of nights washed down with champagne and lobster dishes with Cary Grant and Esther Williams on the set of from a movie. He had superstar treatment and rubbed shoulders with the elite. However, in November 2021 he closed the Dania Jai Alai, one of the most famous frontons in Florida after more than seventy years of activity. Its closure was due to the decline in the popularity of this sport, which was not always popular with the masses.
The punta basket was born in the French Basque Country, although its origin is ambiguous. The most popular story tells that a man from Gernika, a bare-hand ball player, suffered an injury to his dominant hand, for which he had to sharpen his wits and invent a wicker basket to balance the physical consequences left by the suffered fracture. He could not visualize the rise of this sports modality, which would eventually become one of the most attractive sports in the American continent during the sixties and seventies.
His true popularity began with the speed with which the ball was thrown. Basque pelota fans were used to pitches that rarely exceed 20 kilometers per hour. But the appearance of the basket increased the speed of the launch incredibly, reaching 250 kilometers per hour. This exponentially increased interest in the sport and its subsequent popularity.
The size of the stakes
Another of the determining factors of the acquisition of fame of this modality is the game, the bets. They have always been a very strong attraction for sports in general, and in Basque pelota they reach levels of almost tradition. At the beginning, they had a more territorial character, where the identity factor took on an important weight when betting. The people of the towns and villages favored the local pelota players and prioritized pride over economic benefit.
Later, the great players or figures were required to have a distinction in their clothing. A series of attributes or marks that could differentiate them from the rest of the pelotaris in order to begin to distinguish the stars of this sport. This is where the most representative bets begin to come to an end, because as the gaming system evolved, so did the bets. People were beginning to wonder which couple was the strongest or who had the best chance of winning, so the appearance of this monetary influence in betting on the top basket changed the way we understand this sport.
It is from that moment that they begin to reach heights of popularity worthy of the superstars of other sports such as football or basketball. Here, the punta basket enjoyed the recognition and admiration of the great fans of this traditional Basque sport, but without all the spectacle that surrounded the pelota players who crossed the pond. These pelota players who sought their fortune far from home did so under the advice of Spanish businessmen, who saw potential for this modality outside the country due to the attractiveness of betting.
For those who stayed here, they experienced a very slow decline in popularity. The lack of infrastructure and publicity that the punta basket could have in the United States, as well as the attractiveness of cities like Miami, meant that it did not have the same success in Europe as it did on the American continent. In Euskadi the tradition has continued to be maintained but at a much lower level over the years, since other sports such as football and basketball became more popular during the second half of the 20th century.
Renewed or die
Although the new rebirth of the top basket is closely linked to its fall. With the closure of the Dania Jai Alai in Florida in November, one of the frontons with the longest history in this sport and active for almost seven decades, many Basque pelota players who played there had to pack their bags and return to Euskadi, some with the intention of play again. However, only Markina and Hondarribia have continued to schedule basket point games, except for the summer months in the French Basque Country, which have not stopped since the beginning of this sport.
This is where the “new” boom in this sport appears. After slowly dying out in the eastern United States, some businessmen came together to carry out an “experiment”: schedule basket ball games on Mondays in Gernika. And, surprisingly, they were a success, so the next step was the creation of the Jai Alai Winter Series.
This world series, which began in February 2022, faced the best point basket players of the moment and it was a success. The Gernika pediment had to hang the “no tickets” sign in an unprecedented event for the punta basket in recent years. The good organization of this evening gave rise to the creation of a circuit that had six dates in which the crowd was bordered on several frontons. The games were broadcast in their entirety on EiTB, even atypical novelties of this modality were applied: microphones in the point players, live DJs, spectacular presentations, innovative posters, work through social networks…
Gallery.
After this triumph, the operators and promoters of the ball worked to carry out a Jai Alai World Tour. This circuit, which will last from May to December, will have four Grand Slams and will mix sport with the most typical show in the United States. Something like an NBA game to attract an audience that seems to have forgotten the true sporting and mystical tradition that surrounds the top basket. A good reinvention to avoid the death of this discipline.
