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     The UPEI SUN,thursday,'ch. 17, 1977, page 12 
     
    
   
   
    
     know all the gear you need 
     
    

    
     ' is the ball and sweaters, 
     
     so over baSeball and foet- 
     
     ball it's economical. ,' It'll 
     
     grow that way.  7, 
     
     and most important thing is 
     
     that it's fun to play at an 
     
    
   
   
    
     by John Cairns 
     
    
   
   
    
     Despite poor exposure at 
     
     the professional level in 
     
     Canada, basketball and 
     
     soccer are sports growing 
     
     ever more popular here. 
     
    

    
     With this in mind, I went tc 
     
     talk about the games with 
     
    
   
   
    
     Question: Is it a general 
     
     trend in sport that ead'l 
     
     year the players are getting 
     
     better? I " 
     
     Coach Birger: 'Ihere's no‘ 
     
     doubt that each year in 
     
     sport we're getting more and 
     
    
   
   
    
     especially within the last 
     
     five years. ' 
     
    

    
     stion: Would a 
     
     professional team in 
     
     Canada improve basketball 
     
     here even more? 
     
    
   
   
    
     Coach Birger: I think 
     
    
   
   
    
     U.P.E.I. coad'ies George 
     
     Birger and Vince Mulligan. 
     
    
   
   
    
     BASKETBALL 
     
     Question: Which National 
     
     Basketball Association 
     
    
   
   
    
     players would you most like i 
     
    
   
   
    
     on your starting five? 
     
     Coach Birger: There are so 
     
     many great players it'd be 
     
     hard to choose. I know I'd 
     
     have to include people like 
     
     Walton and Jabbar and, of 
     
     course, Julius Erving. I 
     
     would probably put Ron Lee 
     
     on there as an outstanding 
     
     guard. 'Ihese are the types 
     
     of people I would like to 
     
     have on my team if I were 
     
     coaching. 
     
    

    
     Question: Choosing on an 
     
     all-time basis, who would 
     
     you like to have? 
     
    

    
     Coach Birger: I;d have to 
     
     be again picking some of 
     
     the recent stars because 
     
     I‘m sure that each year 
     
     they care up with just 
     
     stronger players as a re— 
     
     sult of the improving of 
     
     the game. Again it would 
     
     include some of these 
     
    

    
     same people that I've just 
     
     mentioned. 
     
    
   
   
    
     more young people started 
     
     at an earlier age, and as a 
     
     result methods have been 
     
     improved. There are much 
     
     more and much better places 
     
     fer young people to grow up 
     
     in sports, so we're going 
     
     to see naturally more stars 
     
     each year. Not that the 
     
     old timers couldn't have 
     
     played with \these teams. 
     
     There's no doubt they could 
     
     have. 'Ihere's no doubt in 
     
     my mind though, also, that 
     
     we have more and better 
     
     players, a lot more in 
     
     numbers than we've had in 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ the past. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Question: Would an N.B.A. 
     
     franchise work in Canada? 
     
     Coach Birger: I think it 
     
     could, yes, in cities like 
     
     Toronto and Montreal, 
     
     possibly 'Ibronto first of 
     
     all. It could work there 
     
     because I've understood that 
     
     they've tried a couple of 
     
     exhibition games there and 
     
     had some pretty good turn— 
     
     Outs. So, yes, I definitely 
     
     think so. The brand of 
     
     basketball in Canada has 
     
     improved vastly within the 
     
     last ten years and 
     
    
   
   
    
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     - there's no doubt it should 
     
    
   
   
    
     encourage it and make it 
     
     stronger. I have the 
     
     feeling that the more ex— 
     
     posure you can give any 
     
     particular sport the more 
     
     it's going to catch on , 
     
     because younger players 
     
     seem to identify many times 
     
     widi professiOnal players. 
     
     There's a certain rub-off 
     
     SOCCER 
     
     Question: Is soccer the 
     
     most up-and—coming game in 
     
     North America? ._ 
     
     Coach Mulligan: After Pelé 
     
     came into that North 
     
     AmericanLeague he brought 
     
     it up down in the Meadow 
     
     Lands in Jersey and started 
     
     packing them in — around 
     
     sixty thousand people. It's 
     
     starting to come‘. Whether 
     
     the big networks buy a 
     
     contract will be important. 
     
     If ABC and NBC buy the 
     
     contract, they'll start 
     
     pushing it through their 
     
     own diannels. 'Ihat will 
     
     help it. What else will 
     
     help it is that it's a 
     
     cheap sport and the way the 
     
     economy is going now. You 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
    
   
   
    
     early age. You've got the 
     
     basic fundamentals, just 
     
     kicking and running, and 
     
     kids like tordo that. 
     
     Question: Will the North 
     
     American Soccer League soon 
     
     rival the other profession— 
     
     al sports? , 
     
     Coach Mulligan: 
     
     on the coaching backgrounds 
     
     you. have in North America. 
     
     I'm trying to compare that 
     
     to how long it took 
     
    

    
     Europe to catch on to 
     
     hockey. They brought in 
     
     coadies franCanada and 
     
     then they sent people over 
     
     here looking at ‘it, so if 
     
     North America goes the same 
     
     way Europe did with our 
     
     hockey system, I'd say it \ 
     
     would catch on within the 
     
     next five years, ten years. 
     
     In North America though, 
     
     when you're talking about 
     
     soccer they‘re in for the 
     
     money, not the building up 
     
     of it, so if it's easier 
     
     (to go over and buy players 
     
     like George Best and those, 
     
     and bring them over instead 
     
     of training their own, 
     
     they'll pick up the tab. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ That's the way I look at it. 
     
    
   
   
    
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