Essex Pirates Withdrawn from BBL
The BBL have today announced that the Essex Pirates have been withdrawn from the league with immediate effect.
The withdrawal of two of the club’s major sponsors has put the club in an impossible financial situation.
Head coach Tim Lewis told BBC Essex:
“It crept up on us suddenly. It was simply the timing, at a point in the season where we’re faced with two weeks prior to the season starting knowing that two sponsors we’ve been working with all summer are gonna be no longer committed to what we are doing puts us in a very precarious sitation.”
“The worst thing we could have done was start the season, then suddenly find four weeks in actually we couldn’t sustain it. We felt the best process for this was to make everybody very aware of it at the beginning of season, and unfortunately make a very hard decision that the Pirates would be unable to fulfill their commitments this year.”
Lewis continued that the Pirates would not exist in any capacity this season but wouldn’t rule out a return to either the BBL or a lower level the season after next.
In a statement on their official website regarding the issue, the BBL said:
“The decision has been reached after a Franchise Review, which followed notification of potential operational challenges by the Pirates Management.”
After being established in 2009, the Pirates have had two lacklustre seasons, finishing second from bottom in 2009/10, and bottom in the league last season.
EBL Division 1 side BA London Leopards, will be taking the Pirates’ place in the BBL Trophy.
The BBL will how have 11 franchises competing in the new season, which starts September 30th 2011.
What do you think? Did you see it coming?
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