Tuesday’s press conference on the second series of the 2020 Srikandi Cup in Kuningan, South Jakarta, sent a clear message: the league was struggling financially.

The league’s organizers were having difficulty both attracting fans and winning sponsors.

After the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL Indonesia) was stopped in 2016, stakeholders scrambled to find a way to keep high-level women’s basketball alive. Before that, Kobanita, the previous women’s basketball league, which began in the 1990s, closed in 2009 due to a lack of funding.

“The lack of big sponsors has been the reason we could not reach our potential,” said Srikandi Cup coordinator Deddy Setiawan.

Now, despite being the country’s highest-level women’s basketball competition, the Srikandi Cup is not recognized by the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi). Perbasi chairman Danny Kosasih said the Srikandi Cup was not under his organization’s flag but denied the rumor claiming he had not given his blessing to the league.

“Since the beginning, it was never conducted under Perbasi,” he said on Wednesday.

“When [the Women’s National Basketball League was halted], we gathered to discuss the effort to keep women’s basketball alive. I once supported them financially. So I will support the league until [Perbasi] can organize the women’s basketball league again.”

“We are still supporting Srikandi but not in the form of funding. We can show our support by providing them with equipment, like balls,” Danny added.

Having no official recognition and facing financial problems, the Srikandi Cup is struggling to stay afloat. The challenges ahead vary from attracting more sponsors to improving referee quality.

In the 2020 season, the league organized a referee camp before the start of the inaugural series in Cirebon. The quality of referees has been a concern among club participants, as they often found that referees made peculiar decisions.

“Inviting more people to watch live matches has been our biggest task,” said Deddy.

“Now we have live streaming and its viewers have gradually increased over time. We also try to make more interesting content on social media,” he added.

Srikandi Cup matches on Youtube have managed to attract 9,000 to 24,000 viewers. The live streaming service provided by the league has managed to attract about 1,500 viewers in per live match, Deddy added.

Players and coaches participating in the league have experienced the benefits of the Srikandi Cup’s appearance on the country’s women’s basketball scene, as the league has provided a medium for them to develop their careers. Regita Pramesti of Merpati Bali said the Srikandi Cup was vital for her to hone her performance over time.

“With this league, I can develop my performance. I can really feel it this year as the competition is getting tougher with more teams participating. The spectators’ enthusiasm is also increasing, which affects us as players as we are more passionate,” she said.

“With only six teams, we are trying to develop [women’s basketball]. There is no official confirmation, but so far the highest level of women’s basketball competition that is still running is the Srikandi Cup,” said Budi Wardoyo, Scorpio Jakarta’s coach.

The six teams in the league are Flying Wheel, Generasi Muda Cirebon, Merpati Denpasar, Sahabat Semarang, Scorpio Jakarta and Tanago Freisian.

Danny Kosasih of Perbasi, however, has plans to reestablish the Women’s National Basketball League under Perbasi. Discussions are set to commence by the middle of this year.

“Perbasi always asks the operator [PT Bola Basket Indonesia] to organize the men’s and women’s league. But when the operator acquired the league, they asked to conduct the men’s league first since it was still struggling financially,” he said.

“When the men’s league begins earning a profit, they say they will start to help the women’s league. This year, the operator has given a green light to establish the women’s league.”

“Later, we will ask the Srikandi Cup whether they will join the league or not,” he said, adding that neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore had shown interest in joining the future women’s league.

The Philippines launched a women’s basketball league last year. Singapore established its women’s league in 2015.

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