Sports fans have criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politician Hsieh Dien-lin, calling him “the man who ruined Taiwan basketball” for being embroiled in numerous controversies and his cited failures and negligence as chairman of the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA).
Hsieh said he would step down in May as chairman of the CTBA, while Keelung Council Speaker Tung Tzu-wei, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has declared his candidacy to head the governing body.
Hsieh is the current Changhua County Council speaker and his family is a powerful political dynasty in the county, starting with his grandfather being elected to the Taiwan Provincial Assembly in the 1980s.
Photo: courtesy of the Changhua County Council via CNA
Online quarrels and political disputes have led to fans urging Hsieh to resign from the CTBA immediately and prompted New Power Party (NPP) Chairwoman Claire Wang to point out problems and failures at the CTBA, saying that “Hsieh is the man who ruined Taiwan basketball.”
Saying Hsieh was elected CTBA chairman in 2018 and then again for a second term in 2022, Wang wrote: “So when Hsieh took charge, it [the CTBA] had the biggest game-fixing scandal [in 2023] in the Super Basketball League [SBL],” with players colluding with gambling syndicates to manipulate odds and profit from betting.
The scandal resulted in the prosecution and court conviction of 14 players last year, who all received lifetime bans from basketball.
“The CTBA as governing body also had problems when putting together the national squad to compete in major Asian tournaments, did not obtain proper training sites, was unable to secure basic insurance to cover injuries and had communication issues with star players,” Wang said.
She pointed to upcoming regional qualifiers that were moved to another country, with governing body FIBA citing “political issues.”
“People had good enthusiasm supporting the game after seeing investment in new clubs, and several new professional circuits launched. It seemed to usher in a new era for Taiwan basketball,” she wrote. “Instead, the CTBA under Hsieh lacked competency and provided no leadership to coordinate and take charge, resulting in the leagues splitting, competing for players, venues and fans. Some clubs disbanded, others jumped to rival leagues, creating confusion due to changing schedules and playoff formats.”
It led to a chaotic situation, with many people calling for the SBL, Taiwan Professional Basketball League and the P.League+ to be merged into one league, but nothing had been done so far, and the three circuits are still competing against each other, while the CTBA has failed in its job as the game’s governing body and has failed the current generation of star players, she said.
She compared it with Taiwanese baseball, with large corporations injecting funds and attracting more fans.
“We should be entering a ‘golden era’ for basketball in Taiwan, but teams are facing more and more issues,” she said. “The situation is mainly due to Hsieh ... Hsieh did not even fulfill the basics of his duty — he did not attend any SBL news conferences, but he would never miss out on glamorous events featuring cheerleaders, including their rehearsals and corporate dinners where they were performing. People have reported that Hsieh would fully participate in these events as head of the CTBA,” she said.
She also cited complaints filed by fans requesting that the Ministry of Sports conduct a probe into Hsieh’s conduct, adding that the CTBA breached its legal requirement to convene an annual general assembly last year, which it scheduled three times, but did not achieve a quorum on the number of attending members.
Quoting members who received a mailed notification and traveled to attend the failed meetings, Wang said Hsieh did not even appear at these three events.
“The first meeting was held in Changhua County, but Hsieh did not show up. It later emerged that he was drinking heavily at a feast the previous night and was still feeling the effects the next day. He was also a no-show at the second meeting in Taipei and the third attempt, with people later learning that Hsieh was on a trip to Japan, leading to utter disbelief and condemnation,” Wang said.
Hsieh responded to the criticism and complaints on Facebook.
“Myself as CTBA chairman cannot solve all the problems. I have put much effort into this job,” he wrote.
Hsieh continued to court controversy by getting into online disputes with basketball fans, who directed their questions and complaints to his Facebook page, which elicited his anger and resulted in online tirades that he blamed on an aide who was hired to manage his social media accounts, but fans cited previous occasions when Hsieh admitted that he was drunk when responding to and arguing with his detractors.
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