In a meeting held recently at the Corradino Sports Pavilion, local Basketball Clubs set up their first-ever Standing Committee. All clubs affiliated with the Malta Basketball Association are represented in this committee which has elected its officials for the first term of office:

The main objective of the BCSC is to safeguard the interests of its member clubs. In the forthcoming weeks, the clubs will be discussing various matters which include amendments to the MBA Statute, the MBA-FIP Agreement, Nurseries and Participation in International Competitions. The last subject-matter will be given urgent attention as it’s the general view of the clubs that MBA’s recent decision to proceed with the Women National Team’s participation in the upcoming Commonwealth Games where the standard of play is extremely high, is somewhat irresponsible. When one considers that we had such negative results in the recent encounters in the Qualifying Games of the European Competitions where the standard of play is much lower, one can easily imagine what sort of results we can expect against New Zealand (listed in 19th place in World Rankings) and Nigeria (ranked 22nd). To have a better idea regarding the strength of these teams, the Italian National Team (Women) are ranked in the 46th place!

Moreover, participation in the Commonwealth Games means an interruption lasting about two months in the local Basketball season for women with its adverse effects on the clubs notably those having national team players among its ranks.

The BCSC believes that local Basketball National teams should limit their participation to those international events where we can compete with some degree of success such as the bi-annual Small Nations Games and the Promotion Cup.

The committee is made up of the following persons: Chairman:Louis Azzopardi (Luxol), Vice chairman:George D’Amato (Hamrun),Secretary: Elton Baldacchino (S. N. Suns), Treasurer: Anthony Vella (Depiro), PRO: Ronnie Calleja (Hibernians)