So many Athletes dream of the Olympics and many have that dream shattered by coaches, but how many sacrifice that Olympic dream over a principle and shocking administration, from the sport’s governing body.
Basketball Australia should hang their heads in shame and one has to say those same heads should roll over what has been a lesson in dreadful administration and communication.
The National Wheelchair Basketball League gets under way this evening, but defending Champions the Be Active Perth Wheelcats will not be playing. What is more three of their top players, three of the starting five for the Australian Rollers, current World Champions, have decided to stand firm and not play after Basketball Australia broke its own regulations. What a shame others sports lack the same moral fibre!
In March Basketball Australia issued all state bodies fixtures for a six team competition. The notification stated that these fixtures were “Final.”
Players arranged their working lives around being available for interstate games based on this information.
Basketball Australia then, against its own governance processes, changed the competition to a seven team competition and re-issued fixtures to accommodate the new team, two weeks before the start of the 2015 competition!
Just to compound the issue this 7th team was the Red Dust Heelers, a team that was formed last year. The competition rules did not allow an independent team to participate, as all sides are State based. So the Heelers went to Adelaide and promised to share the sponsorship spoils, and represent the state. A year later they have walked away from South Australia, leaving the state now without a team and it is believed that the promised monies were never delivered either. They have set their Wheelchair Basketball program back.
So the competition has been thrown into disarray as Basketball Australia try to accommodate a team with no home.
As a result of the fixture changes the Be Active Perth Wheelcats were going to be disadvantaged, as suddenly all the travel plans had to be changed. One player faced missing nine games as a result of the change!
Three of the World’s top players Shaun Norris OAM and MVP at the World Championships, Justin Eveson OAM and Laureus Award nominee, and Michael Hartnett OAM are all in the Australian starting five and have stood firm asking Basketball Australia to adhere to its own rules and regulations, which state that a new team cannot be introduced at this late stage. Basketball Australia are believed to have admitted that they are in breach of the regulations but have pushed ahead anyway.
The Wheelcats were supposed to be playing in Melbourne and looking to start their defence of back to back titles, instead they are all still in Perth having forfeited the match, and have stated that unless Basketball Australia revert to the original fixtures they will not take to the court.
This is a massive statement as the Australian Rollers selection is based on players having court time and therefore these three players are prepared to sacrifice the ultimate honour, representing Australia at the Rio Paralympics.
Incredibly sources claim that these three players were advised by Basketball Australia to transfer to another side to keep those dreams alive.
Having represented the Wheelcats for the past 14 years none of the players are prepared to move. The Rollers are favourites to win Gold in Rio, but without these three key players the possibility of a medal decreases let alone gold.
Once again we see a sport’s administration make a decision that is not in the best interests of the game at large. A decision that goes against their own competition rules and regulations. One has to ask how long is this going to go on before the Government starts to hold back funding from these organisations?
Credit to the Perth Wheelcats for sticking to their guns. They hope to be back in Round Two if Basketball Australia revert to the original fixtures and are confident that they can retain their title if that happens. Hopefully everyone will get behind them should common-sense prevail and rules and regulations are adhered to.
