Having played professional basketball in five countries, including spells at three NBA franchises, John Amaechi would appear better qualified than most to comment on the state of the sport in this country. So when he describes the nine Super League Basketball clubs as a “cartel” who churn out “sewage”, any interested parties are likely to listen – including the sports minister, Stephanie Peacock, who last week received a letter that included similar sentiments from Amaechi.
Peacock has become involved, as the battle for control of British basketball has escalated to civil war. All nine SLB clubs have begun legal proceedings against the sport’s governing body, the British Basketball Federation, which last week signed a 15-year agreement with an American consortium called GBBL to operate a new men’s professional league from next year.
As a result, the proposed new league has no clubs or venues, and the problems do not end there. UK Sport, the government body responsible for elite funding, has been asked to investigate whether the £4.75m given to basketball is secure given the allegations about the BBF’s tender process made by the clubs.
In another extraordinary development, SLB referees are on strike after the Sheffield Sharks owner, Vaughn Millette, accused the experienced match official Eduard Udyanskyy of racism after his side lost against the Surrey 89ers last month. “There has been an ongoing issue of racism towards my coach [Atiba Lyons] from a certain referee for years now,” Millette wrote on X.
An SLB game between the Bristol Flyers and the Caledonian Gladiators was postponed later that week as referees refused to officiate in an act of solidarity with Udyanskyy, and the SLB’s head of officiating, Richard Stokes, resigned in protest.
A fortnight later, referees are being flown in from Canada to make sure the SLB can continue and in a final twist Millette, who as interim SLB chair was leading the clubs’ rebellion against the federation, has been forced to stand down despite a public apology and deleting his posts. An SLB investigation concluded there was “no evidence to support the claim of racism, corruption or cheating, in relation to Udyanskyy.”
Given this mess it is hardly surprising Amaechi is scathing, and pins the blame firmly at the clubs. The 54-year-old is not involved in the league, but does have a good relationship with the BBF chair, Chris Grant, one of the driving forces behind it. “I feel the same way about the SLB clubs as I do about the water companies,” he says. “The natural resources are plentiful – there are so many talented youngsters in this country – but we end up with sewage.
“The players want a different path and the leadership needs to change. In the corporate world, the market wouldn’t tolerate this level of failure. With the new proposal there’s potential for substantial investment in the sport.
“It’s time for a change. I’m 54, and I’ve seen three generations of kids with more talent than me see it squandered through lack of opportunity and poor management. It would be nice if, before I die, one more kid from Manchester gets a chance to walk the parquet floors.”
Amaechi is a longstanding critic of the SLB and its predecessor, the British Basketball League, which collapsed last year after the implosion of its financial backers, the one-time Everton buyers 777 Partners. Although not shy of giving an opinion, as a psychologist, professor of leadership at the University of Exeter and owner of a business transformation consultancy, he prefers to deal in forensic analysis.
In a detailed study last month, which cited 10 previous research papers, Amaechi highlighted: short-term thinking and inconsistent leadership; chronic financial instability and poor commercial planning, weak brand positioning and ineffective marketing; neglect of grassroots development pathways; inadequate media presence and broadcasting strategy; lack of strategic government engagement; insufficient community-building and inclusion initiatives; failure to capitalise on cultural relevance.
“The clubs are a cartel,” he says. “They are not a professional league. Most of the British players don’t get paid properly, their salaries are topped up by coaching. Spending hours each day coaching kids is not what a professional career should look like.
“I’ve had BBL players live my house, as when they get knocked out of the competition they have nowhere to live. The number of BBL players I’ve bought food for because their contract doesn’t pay them enough ...
“It’s a real shame that a cottage industry that has failed could stop the development of the game. In some quarters there’s the same level of nostalgia for the BBL as there is for Woolworths and it’s completely unearned.”
The clubs have high-profile supporters of their own however, including the former sports minister Richard Caborn, who was instrumental in the development of the Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield, which is home to the Sharks, Sheffield United Women and Sheffield Eagles rugby league club.
Without getting into claims of illegality, Caborn questions the decision of the BBF to put the franchise to operate a new league out to tender in the first place, particularly as the SLB was given a licence to run it last summer.
“The BBF have sold a franchise without clubs, facilities or players,” Caborn says. “They are selling a commodity that doesn’t exist. It would be like the FA telling the Premier League that they’ve sold the franchise to private investors, without the agreement of the clubs. How would that go down? I don’t know why they’re selling the franchise in the first place. The BBF gave the league a three-year licence last summer. They should be sitting down with the clubs to discuss how they can make this work. We could end up with two different leagues, which would be ludicrous.”
Several sources have said, however, that the SLB licence contains a 12-month break clause, which it was always the intention to activate this summer, and that the three-year contract was only ever meant as an insurance policy in case the tender failed to attract credible bidders.
Caborn also criticises elements of the BBF’s governance structure, with no club or SLB representation on its board. “British basketball is the only sport I can think of where the league and the biggest clubs aren’t represented on the governing body,” he says. “It’s madness.”
BBF sources conceded this situation is suboptimal and will be addressed when the standoff regarding the new league is finally resolved, although the SLB also has governance issues. By retaining Millette as chair beyond 31 January – he stood down following the racism row at the end of March – the SLB was in breach of its licence that states that it requires independent leadership. As a result it could face a sanction from the BBF, although given the fires raging elsewhere that is the least of both side’s problems.
