By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
There has been no BVI Basketball Federation League since 2022
The wheels are in motion to end a four year saga that has dragged on the electoral process, after the BVI Basketball Federation quietly dissolved in 2021, with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the BVI Olympic Committee, now involved.
FIBA, in a joint statement on Thursday with the BVIOC, noted that the term of the current BVI Basketball Federation executive has expired and that no new elections have been held, contrary to the BVIBF Constitution and the principles of good governance endorsed by FIBA.
To that extent, a working group comprising FIBA and the BVIOC officials have been working to restore governance stability in the BVIBF. FIBA, with the collaboration of the BVIOC the statement said, will organise an electoral assembly to conduct fair and transparent elections for the BVIBF, in accordance with FIBA’s general statutes and internal regulations as well as within the BVIOC’s regulatory framework.
FIBA and the BVIOC aim to ensure that all members entitled to vote in the envisioned Electoral Assembly are properly recognised. Accordingly, the current list of BVI-recognised voting members are: District I, District 2, District 3, District 4, District 5, District 6, District 7, District 8, District 9, VG Summer Jam League, Filipinos Association VG, Filipinos Association Tortola and K&J Basketball Club.
According to the statement, if any member of the public believes that they or their organization should be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections—but their names are not on the list—they are invited to send documentation showing that they qualify as a voting member under the BVIBF Constitution, they should email their documents to legal@fiba.basketball.
Submissions must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, 14 November.
FIBA and the BVIOC will review all submissions and make a final determination on the list of eligible voters and announce the date, time and place of the BVIF Electoral Assembly.
Ironically, the BVI Basketball Federation president Derrick Varlack, was allowed to vote during last year’s BVI Olympic Committee elections, although the federation’s term had long expired.
There has been no organized basketball activity in the BVI since 2022. In January, 2024, players banned together, signed a petition and took their case to the Caribbean Basketball Confederation and by extension FIBA, for intervention in establishing a new BVI Basketball Federation.
Since then, there have been a series of meetings trying to resolve the issue. Earlier his year, a BVI Amateur Basketball Association was formed with the aim of organizing local league activities.
“I think it was necessary because there were a lot of misconceptions as to what we needed to do constitutionally,” Jason Edwin said. “So by them coming in and clearing up, the misconceptions were necessary so we could have a clear way forward to go about all elections.”
Edwin described not having organized basketball and its development in the territory for the last three years as a “set back.” “But we all should use this as a lesson learnt throughout all our governing bodies,” he said.
A’s player Joash Victor, whose team ended a 40-year championship drought in 2021 and then lost the 2022 title, was looking forward to battling for the 2023 crown, but there was no league. Victor said that this development marks a turning point in BVI basketball.
“From the beginning, this is what we have been fighting for, this is what we have been pushing for, to have an election that would be transparent,” he said. “To see that FIBA intervened and the BVI Olympic Committee will be partnering to have this election, it marks a turning point in the BVI in regards to the governance of the sport. I must say it took a while. It has been a long time in coming, but it was worth it and I’m glad we’re able to accomplish this feat.”
Not having basketball for the last three years, Victor said, has been a “drain on the basketball community” especially the players on Tortola who would have to travel to Virgin Gorda for their Summer Jam league that marked its 30th Anniversary this year, to watch games.
“It was heart aching for the community and that’s want forced us and motivated us to get something going in that regard and out of that, we were able to for the BVI Amateur Basketball Association which is going to be the one tasking ourselves with running basketball leagues every year going forward,” he said. “That’s on the bright side of things. It’s good to see now as we embark on this new chapter, we have the right structural organization within the basketball community, where we’ll have a federation and under the federation and association, which hopefully would be responsible for the leagues, so I’m looking forward and everything seems to have aligned at the right time.”
