Basketball has decided to “up de ting” in 2018.
Men’s basketball will have three divisions again this year, as the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association (BABA) has opted to bring back a Second Division for the upcoming domestic season.
BABA secretary Charlene Leacock confirmed the move after the clubs were notified of the change in an email detailing this year’s registration guidelines.
“We really had a number of complaints from the clubs over the last two seasons as it relates to the tournaments, the number of teams in the divisions and the days between games, as we had situations where teams were playing once every two weeks,” Leacock explained.
“Then last season we had a situation where a team wasn’t demoted from the Premier League because that club’s team turned around and won First Division and that’s not really ideal for our promotion-demotion system.
“So it’s mainly for those two reasons we’ve decided to go back to three divisions for men’s basketball, because at the end of the day our main priority is our members and they had too many complaints for us not to address this,” she added.
It marks a return to the traditional setup of men’s basketball of a top flight and two lower divisions.
Three years ago the BABA executive made a decision to downsize after witnessing a considerable drop in the number of teams registering to compete in those lower divisions.
The declining numbers in officials and referees coupled with the unavailability of premier courts also made those three leagues difficult to manage for the council.
“We still don’t have the number of referees and officials we would [want] but the teams are our biggest priority, and the officials have indicated to us that they are willing to work with us as much as possible to make this all work, because we can’t have a situation where clubs are starting a competition in May and finishing in October,” Leacock reasoned.
“The shortage of officials shouldn’t be too much of a problem this season due to our proposed structure now.
“First Division should start in the first weekend of March and their play-offs hopefully will begin by the time Second Division starts in May, so we won’t have that much overlap.
“Premier League starts February 18 and should end by the first week of May but, of course, that is all dependent on the numbers of teams that register and the availability of venues that allows for us to complete at least three nights a week, including Sundays.
“Right now we are still waiting on the Barbados Community College to confirm when their tiles are going to get here to complete their floor, so in the meantime we will be using the Gymnasium and hope they will be ready by the end of this month or early March,” she added. (JM)