adminGeophrey Sifani Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO Basketball Association (BBA) secretary-general Howard Phangwana has dismissed claims that Milton Boys’ High, Townsend Girls’ High, Nkulumane High and Ihlathi High were unfairly excluded from the league.
He said the association passed a resolution last month to exclude school-based clubs as they had forfeited most of their league matches due to school commitments.
“There was no expulsion of any kind in this meeting. Everyone was present except Milton High and the association made the ruling after they had assessed the situation thoroughly. There is no policy in our constitution about dismissal based on being a school-based team. From the very beginning, these teams came by affirmative action, which is not in the constitution, so they went back by the same decision that was passed for their involvement,” said Phangwana.
“It’s true they weren’t competitive enough because if they were present they would be walk overs for their opponents or they would just forfeit the games. The process was now like strengthening the weak and weakening the strong, which was now slowing down progress by the senior teams.”
He said the BBA would accommodate other matches that were missed by having them played as mid-week fixtures although the arrangement will slow down progress.
“Elephants and Flame Lily are a product of Milton and Townsend under Thokozani Sigola’s project, the Milton Development, and there is no need to discuss on the two being excluded from the association as other school-based teams,” he said.
In another development, Phangwana said they were close to securing an agreement with the National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) to set up a schools’ league.
“We want to ensure the school teams get a field to improve their side of competition. We’re trying to make it possible for them to be part of our association. Players can be selected in other teams but what we want at the moment is to have schools’ teams competing against each other.
“Our proposal has been sent to Nash together with our suggestions and if they buy into it, we’ll launch the Under-20 league by January. We’re also trying to secure sponsorship for the schools’ league.”
The initiative will start with an Under-20 league before other age groups are introduced with time.
Online Reporter