Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 11, 2009 Sports
– says decision too late to be authentic
By Edison Jefford
There was always trouble brewing among the Kashif and Shanghai Kings and the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA), troubles that climaxed earlier this week with a controversial and unilateral suspension decision.
After being served a suspension letter last weekend (February 6), Kings are now forced to believe that there are ulterior motives for the late suspension since their decision to not play in the LABA League was widely known.
“We had told them at a meeting last year that we will not play in the League but prefers a relegation tournament because of the situation,” Kings’ Head Coach, an irate Abdullah ‘Zico’ Hamid, told Kaieteur Sport yesterday.
Hamid said that the LABA had mentioned prize monies for the top League finishers at a November meeting but Kings knew that the association was in no way positioned to issue payments upon the League’s completion. According to the Coach, the team was aware that the LABA owed Pistons an outstanding $80,000 in addition to having outstanding balances for the host Mackenzie Sports Club, the sound system and several officials.
Hamid also told this newspaper that the association merely has an oral commitment from Pioneer Construction, since to his knowledge, the LABA had not received a formal letter of sponsorship commitment from the company.
As part of the prize money arrangements for the current Pioneer Construction League in Linden, the winning team is to receive $100,000, while the second and third place teams get $60,000 and $40,000 respectively.
“We asked them (LABA) about those debts and they informed us that they would pay the money from what they receive at the gate during the League,” Hamid indicated, adding that on that basis his team refused to play.
In other words, Kings were not geared to participate in the rigorous League without due compensation and with the LABA already indebted to another club. The team would have played if money was not part of the equation. It is at this stage that Hamid believed the team should have been penalised if any penalty was to be attached to their action. He said the LABA waited, as some months elapsed, before issuing a penalty and that is not right.
“We did not get ban by the LABA because the LABA did not meet to decide on whether we should be banned or not. They are meeting tomorrow (today). The President and Joe Chapman suspended us,” Hamid continued.
The Coach, who is a former national senior and junior Coach, is also a LABA member on the Executive as Organising Secretary. He must have known whether the association took a collective decision to suspend the top club.
In addition to the unilateral decision to suspend them and the issues of LABA outstanding dues, Kings believe that they are being penalised to ostracise them from the budding Next Level Entertainment national tournament.
LABA Secretary, Joe Chapman was asked yesterday why the penalty was not issued at an earlier instant given the association’s knowledge of Kings’ position and he said that it was pending following further discussion. “It’s automatic [suspension if a team decides to not play in a League]; it’s immediate and in this case, we were thinking about what penalties should apply. We didn’t act on it right away–we belatedly acted,” Chapman confessed.
The LABA Secretary informed on the one hand and confirmed on the other that the team was suspended for ‘failing to play in the League’. The suspension now puts Kings in an awkward position as ‘Next Level’ looms.
Asked how the suspension will affect Kings’ ‘Next Level’ aspirations, Chapman made it clear that he has no knowledge about the situation but said that the club will be definitely refused permission from the association to play. “I am not too sure how it will work out. [The team], most definitely, will not be allowed to play,” Chapman intimated, adding that the club’s reasons for not playing in the League are not wholesome enough to warrant no action.
“We had a meeting to deal with all those issues and the association does not feel that their reasons are validated,” Chapman noted. He said that today’s meeting will further iron out issues related to the present suspension of Kings.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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