BAUMANN SMOOTHS PATH FOR GB MERGER
- Updated: March 8, 2012
FIBA Secretary-General Patrick Baumann has urged Britain’s home nations to find a formula to take the sport forward under a single all-powerful organisation – or risk falling into the international abyss.
Following meetings with representatives of England Basketball and its counterparts in Scotland and Wales, Baumann has re-affirmed his demand for the trio to decide by June whether they want to retain a single Great Britain team at senior level or return to fielding separate sides after this summer’s Olympic Games.
A proposal to formally re-structure the game, which could see the three existing entities merge into a new federation, is currently being finalised by a working party drawn from senior figures from within the sport.
“The British Basketball Federation has been working very hard in showing the pros and cons of it staying in place over time, and then in 2016 taking its membership of FIBA in lieu of the three home nation,” Baumann told MVP.
“They’re working very hard on it. They’ve been doing a lot of consultation. So our visit was the end of that process so that the boards could ask us questions directly on why we are looking for a change and what the reasons are.”
The final document on the future is expected to recommend that the current high performance body that oversees the GB programmes and the British Basketball League are integrated into a single federation, one that would potentially still retain some of the existing national structures.
And despite concerns that young players would get less opportunity to make their mark, Baumann believes building on the momentum generated by Britain’s growing international success in recent years is paramount.
“It’s simply about looking into the crystal ball and seeing into the future of British teams being able to compete at the highest level and how this is really going to help the level of the home nations,†he affirmed.
“This is something you have to believe that completing the pact between the home nations will help the growth of basketball. You have to take a leap of faith. If you are a volunteer or a coach at the bottom level, at a club or a school, you want to see that if you find a talented player, or a coach or a referee, that you can go through all the channels and be at the Olympic Games or world championships.â€
It is understood that the compromise agreement would potentially see England, Scotland and Wales continue to compete separately at the 2018 Commonwealth Games as well as in other informal tournaments.
And Baumann claims that he has received reassurances from Sport England – and elsewhere – that the new structure, which would also see the home nations lose their separate membership of FIBA from 2016, will not lead to funding cuts.
“They have clearly indicated that if there is a clear path towards a British team, and if the home nations contribute at grassroots level in the development of talent, the funding they currently have will not disappear,†he said.
“In some circumstances it could even be increased. However if there was no British path, there is a risk that some of that funding might even be reduced.â€
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