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New Copenhagen basketball court an absolute joke
Christian Wenande
February 12th, 2019
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This article is more than 5 years old.
Court has no line markings and a roof net that prevents long-range shots
Locals jumping through more hoops that they should have to (photo: kjschroeder)
One of the most fundamental aspects of basketball is the three-point shot. The long-range shot is increasingly popular in modern hoops, but don’t expect to be able to hit any from ‘downtown’ at the new streetball court at Nuuks Plads in Nørrebro.
Firstly, there aren’t any markings to indicate where the three-point line is, but even if there were, a roof net prevents any kind of long shot. Even Shaq would have trouble making a free-throw (his poor shooting percentage notwithstanding).
“You’d think it was a joke, if it wasn’t such a travesty. By Jagtvej on Nørrebro a new streetbasket court has been set up with a roof net. It means that all shots from long range hit the roof netting! It’s like putting up a fence in the penalty box of a football pitch,” sporting organisation, DGI Storkøbenhavn, complained on Facebook.
“And unfortunately, that’s not the only error. The court is round and has four baskets that all face the middle so there is no way to play two full-court games at once. There is also no court marking and the circle dimension means you are standing next to the fence when taking ‘baseline’ shots.”
You don’t need to be Michael Jordan to realise that these issues make it difficult to play the game.
READ MORE: Copenhagen mayors want new Metro line
City to rebound
DGI Storkøbenhavn went on to enquire how the design managed to be approved without anyone with a smidgen of knowledge about the game being consulted.
The city’s department for technical and environmental issues, which is behind the construction of the fault-ridden court, admitted that it isn’t very suited to basketball.
“Our primary focus now is to rectify the problem as quickly as possible so basketball can be played on the court. Having said that, we will also look into the process of the construction to see how such a mistake could have occurred,” Jon Pape, the deputy head of the department for technical and environmental issues, told TV2 News.
See the ‘basketball court’ in question in the video below.
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