Basketball: Suspension of Men’s division 1A and Women’s leagues-Clubs request SBF to convene EGM |03 July 2007

The clubs have made the request in a letter addressed to SBF chairman Paul Denis and dated July 1, 2007 and signed by Jude Talma, the elected spokesman for the clubs.

The representatives of clubs have based their arguments to convene an extra-ordinary general meeting in accordance with rule 7B (iii) b which states that ‘The executive committee shall on the request of not less than one third of the members entitled to vote at an annual general meeting (AGM) convene an extra-ordinary meeting (EGM) in the manner provided in sub-paragraph (b) (ii) (a).’
The sub-paragraph (b) (ii) (a) reads:
‘A meeting of the members of the federation which is not the AGM shall be termed an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM). An EGM may deal with any matter, other than matters specially reserved by this constitution to be dealt with at an AGM.’
On the agenda of the EGM are:
- Vote of No Confidence in the executive committee of the Seychelles Basketball Federation
- Resolution to elect/appoint a new executive committee of the Seychelles Basketball Federation
- Any other relevant matters
  
It is worth noting that 18 of the 30 registered basketball clubs have agreed and signed the letter asking the SBF executive committee to convene an extra-ordinary general meeting within the next 28 days.

The clubs took the decision after not getting a response from the SBF following a petition they lodged on June 19, 2007 after the SBF suspended the Men’s division 1A teams and women’s leagues until after the taking place of the Seventh  Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) in Madagascar in August.

All but one of the eight Men’s division 1A teams and four of the seven women’s teams signed the petition in which they gave the SBF a seven-day period to make a decision and failing to do so they would meet to decide on the next course of action.

Teams playing in the Men’s division 1B and Men’s division 2 who have not been affected by the decision have joined with those who are directly being affected.

In a press release sent to Seychelles Nation’s Sports Desk yesterday, the clubs noted that additionally to the request for the extraordinary general meeting, they have created two committees in order to seek sponsorships and organize a basketball competition during the time the league has been suspended.

Noting that Jude Talma has been elected the official spokesperson of the clubs, they added that names of people have been proposed to form part of a caretaker committee to replace the actual SBF executive committee once the vote of No Confidence has been passed.

The press release added that all the teams who have signed a second petition have expressed their full support for the country’s national team’s quest to do well at the IOIG and have pledged to give their full support to players on their team who have been called to train with the national team.

But they feel that suspending the national league is not the best strategy and that before this decision was taken, at least there should have been some discussions with the federation members – the teams themselves.

The press release continued by saying that the objective in lodging the petition is not to disrupt the training schedule of the national team, but to make a case for all the other basketballers who will be out of action for at least three months. It added that with no basketball competition for all this time, it will surely affect the performance of the national team.

The clubs also noted that the SBF executive committee acted arrogantly and abused its powers when it did not respond to their first petition and explained that it (the SBF executive committee) is not acting in the best interest of Seychelles’ basketball.