Following the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, UK officials promised - and will soon deliver - on funding for much of the country's niche sports. Fencing, equestrian competition, and shooting will acquire several millions in future financing. However, basketball, the country's second most popular team sport and second most popular team sport in the world behind football, has received no funding since 2014. The country's basketball leagues, the BBL and EBL (British and English Basketball Leagues), remain severely underfunded and are miles behind several of Europe's much more established basketball league - not to mention the National Basketball Association in the U.S., the pinnacle of the basketball competition. Despite being played by over 200,000 14-16-year-olds every week, the game in the UK will be hard pressed to move forward without legitimate funding.

Director Jon E Price captured the struggle of the sport in the UK in his new short documentary Underneath The Noise, which premiered via Dazed. The player's featured discuss the under-funding of the game, its uncertain future, and the straight-line goal of making it in the U.S. while Price showcases the beauty and pace of the game in his delicate shots.

With the 2015-16 NBA season officially underway, the progress of the game has continued to rise from all corners of the world. More international players have joined the world's top league than ever before, surpassing 100 total last year for the first time in history. However, the number of UK players continues to stagnate. To this day, only 11 UK-eligible players have ever played in the NBA, and many of them were born in other countries (like Luol Deng and Ben Gordon) but received UK citizenship. Deng, born in Sudan, is currently the only UK-eligible player in the league.

Currently, the UK lags behind Spain, Croatia, France, and Serbia among European countries that have produced NBA talent - all countries with significantly more established basketball leagues of its own. However, even countries that have nurtured less professional players have begun to do so more consistently, and with greater impact on the international stage. The future of the game in the UK is uncertain despite its meteoric rise in popularity, and unfortunately that rides heavily on future funding.

Watch Price's documentary below.