NLE holds meeting with Georgetown clubs

Mar 04, 2009 Sports

– discusses rules ahead of Friday’s ‘jump ball’

By Edison Jefford

Georgetown’s top seeded basketball clubs had the opportunity to vent their discrepancies with the administration of the sport when Next Level Entertainment (NLE) held a needed ‘no–holds–barred’ meeting Monday night.

WE WILL COMPLY!!! Head Coach of the Demerara Panthers, Derrick Alphonso (standing, left) makes a point during the NLE meeting with Georgetown clubs Monday night while other club representatives listen attentively. Seated at the head table at right are Georgetown President, Trevor Rose; NLE Directors, Travis Shepherd and Jamaal Douglas; Technical Official, Dennis Clarke.

The forum became necessary as the most lucrative financial basketball tournament looms and a signal from Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation President, Godwin McPherson that Guyana is short of proper refereeing.

Directors of ‘Next Level’, Jamaal Douglas and Travis Shepherd along with Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association President, Trevor Rose updated the City teams on the rules and regulations of the tournament.

McPherson had indicated the urgent need to expose more referees for certification at the international level to avoid some of the atrocities on the court. “Everyone knows the state of our refereeing,” McPherson had said.

The meeting was largely held to update the clubs on the current International Basketball Federation [in English] (FIBA) rules and regulations while simultaneously giving those teams an opportunity to express their concerns.

The overriding subject was that of the state of local officiating, which was brought to the attention of stalwart Dennis Clarke, who also shared the head table alongside Douglas, Shepherd and Rose at the well–attended meeting.

McPherson had observed his reservations about the refereeing aspect of basketball at the launch on the tournament two weeks ago. He had implored the local officials to pay keen attention to the fitness feature of refereeing.

The general feeling of the clubs is that local referees tend to take the game away from the players based on emotional judgements. In light of that, the NLE Directors are exploring the possibilities of overseas–based referees.

At present, Sherwin Henry is the only FIBA accredited referee in Guyana. United States–based Howard Peters had failed his recertification examination in Canada while Henry successfully completed his recertification in Barbados.

Kaieteur Sport understands that the upcoming tournament could benefit from Barbadian referees for the semi–final and final pending their availability. The negotiations to have those referees participate in the tournament are ongoing.

Another issue that was raised at the meeting was the volatile attitude of some players and coaches alike, which promoted one coach, who will remain nameless, to apologised for the behaviour of his players in the Georgetown League.

‘All is well that ends well’. Despite the friendly fury at the meeting, the clubs gave all the assurance that they will play within the rules of the tournament and try as best as possible to cope with the refereeing situation at present.

Rose told Kaieteur Sport after the meeting that he believes the incentives are good and it was heartening to see the clubs coming together in a collaborative effort to deal with issues that plagues basketball before they compete.

“I see the guys trying to raise the standard of basketball and so far that is good. I expect that the public’s interest in the sport will be restored and that basketball would become number one in Guyana this year,” Rose optimised.

Asked if he had any reservations with the management of the tournament, Rose expressed a resounding “No!” but urged the Directors to examine a more substantial contribution to local basketball following the success of the event.

“My only little concern is that once the tournament is a success [and continues to be], the promoters should look into something substantial for basketball like contributing to the development of facilities,” he encouraged.

The NLE Basketball Extravaganza, which gets underway Friday night, will attract the top teams in Georgetown in a playoff against the leading clubs from Linden in a tough battle for a whopping $300,000 first place prize.

The competition usually attracts the biggest financial purse for any basketball event in the country with the second place team taking home $200,000, third place $100,000 and fourth place $50,000 along with other prizes.

Courts Pacesetters are the defending champions after defeating two–time finalists Kashif and Shanghai Kings in the final two years ago. Linden’s Kings won the inaugural contest in 2006 while there was no competition last year.