Basketball England cancel remainder of 2019-20 season

Basketball England has announced they have cancelled all affiliated basketball activity for the 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement, which came minutes after the BBL announced the suspension of their season, comes after a meeting with other basketball stakeholders today and is in light of increased measures to fight the spread of the virus issued by government on Monday.

“Basketball England is here to serve and protect its members,” Stewart Kellett, Basketball England CEO commented.

“We know from feedback over the weekend that the basketball community want the governing body to protect people. We also know that people want to play and stay involved and are disappointed with the cancellation, but we have to do what is right for the greater good of the country, to help stop the spread of the virus. We are very grateful for support on this matter.

“Basketball England will provide advice and support to clubs and our members that need it.”

The official reason given for the cancellation is the number of games to be played in an increasingly dwindling period of time; there are nearly 500 NBL fixtures that would need to be completed to conclude the 2019/20 regular season across the various divisions.

The cancellation means the following activities will not see the conclusion of their season:

• Basketball England’s leagues; NBL, affiliated Local Leagues, Jr. NBA, the EABL, WEABL and ABL Finals, the Dynamik National Schools competitions.
• England national team activity, talent programmes including Aspire, Basketball England education courses.

The only potential exceptions to the cancellation are the Academy Leagues and some Dynamik National Schools competitions ((EABL, WEABL, ABL, plus U14 Boys Premier, U16 Boys Premier, U17 Girls & Boys, U19 Girls & Boys Conference) due to being within one game of completion. Academy Finals day was due to happen at Essex Sports Arena tomorrow. BE added a decision on that will be made no later than 28 April, 2020.

Meanwhile, for the NBL, the governing body are working out how the final NBL tables will be concluded, with this to be communicated on or before 27 March 2020.

BE added they will continuously monitor the situation, whilst beginning preparation for the 2020-21 season. The initial suspension of the season was announced just four days ago.

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