Britain urged to keep united basketball team

Published on Monday 4 April 2011 15:40

The secretary general of the International Basketball Federation Patrick Baumann believes England, Scotland and Wales should continue to operate under the banner of Great Britain once the Olympics are over.

The three home nations have come together to form a team for next year's London Olympics and have found far more success together than separately, qualifying for back-to-back European Championships.

But the recommendation from the sport's governing body will not have gone unnoticed by football's home associations, who are resisting a British team because of the belief that it will lead to the scenario that has unfolded with basketball.

So impressed have FIBA been with the progress made that their board voted 17-3 in favour of allowing both the men's and women's teams to compete in the Olympics.

As a condition of their participation, though, FIBA demanded the future of British Basketball be sorted by the end of next June. The three home nations which make up British Basketball have 14 months to decide whether to merge completely, giving up their individual votes within FIBA, or disband the British team.

Baumann has no doubt which would be the better option. "If you look at the history books, it stands out that England, Scotland and Wales have participated only a few times in major international basketball competitions, both at senior and junior levels," he said. "Since they came together around 2005-2006 and started playing as Great Britain, they have gone from strength to strength, qualifying for EuroBasket tournaments and showing they can compete with some of the best teams.

"If they disband, it most likely will be a step backwards. They would be going back to the way things were for so many years when they rarely appeared in our competitions."

FIBA were always keen to make sure that not only would Great Britain be able to put competitive teams on the court for the Olympics, but also the event would leave a legacy to help grow the sport.

Ultimately, FIBA will have no say in future of basketball in this country, but Baumann insists things can not continue as they are. "It is up to the basketball family in Britain to figure out which way they want to go post-Olympic Games," he said. "The way they go has to satisfy their ideas but, at the same time, be in line with the FIBA statutes.

"Right now, the three home nations are members of FIBA and we are very proud to have them. The British Basketball Federation is simply a united federation of those three.

"I'm pretty sure it's going to be difficult to continue an exceptional situation where we have three home nations plus a British Basketball Federation."They need to figure out what is the best governance to bring the game forward and to take full advantage of having the Olympic Games in London.

"If you want to have a proper legacy plan for the future of basketball in a country, all basketball stakeholders need to be united and absolutely agree on the way forward."