Global basketball governing body FIBA has announced the suspension of the British Basketball Federation (BBF) national body in order to “restore regulatory integrity” to the sport in the country.
FIBA launched a taskforce on August 20 with the aim of resolving the long-running governance feud between the BBF and the organizers of the Super League Basketball competition, and that taskforce has now resolved to strip the BBF of the majority of its powers.
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Now, the BBF is “temporarily” deprived of the ability to license and recognize national-level men’s club competitions.
Furthermore, the suspension means that the BBF cannot field a team for men’s national team competitions until the situation is resolved – the team’s next fixtures, qualifiers for the FIBA World Cup, had been set for November.
FIBA said that the decision came after a “comprehensive” assessment of the situation that included conversations with varied stakeholders and officials, prior to recommending the suspension to the FIBA executive committee.
The SLB, currently operating independently of the BBF, has also taken the federation to the high court in the UK, contesting the BBF’s decision to hand a league operating license to a US consortium led by former EuroLeague Basketball acting chief executive Marshall Glickman.
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By GlobalDataThat decision prompted backlash from the SLB member clubs at the time, claiming that they had not been consulted and that the licensing process breached UK competition law and the legislation on the matter laid out by the global basketball governing body.
Since then, SLB accused the BBF of breaking UK competition law, abusing its “dominant position” as the sport’s governing body, and breaching its duties by failing to act in a rational, fair, and lawful manner.
Only days ago (October 12), BBF chair Chris Grant resigned from the body “for personal reasons”, almost exactly a month after the creation of the taskforce.
