THE Mount Gambier Pioneers Basketball Club has secured its future on the court after being accepted to play for 12 months in the Adelaide-based Premier League.
The decision ends four months of turmoil for the club after it was left stranded after the dismantling of the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).
For the first time in its history, the Pioneers will play in the South Australian Premier League in what it hopes is a stopgap measure to springboard back into a higher elite competition.
The club – which was blocked from playing in the Victorian new elite competition – will now move into top gear to secure both a men’s and women’s team for 2019.
It is hoped the club will be able to leapfrog into the new Victorian “Elite” competition in 2020 if it can demonstrate it can assemble a competitive women’s and men’s team.
Pioneers board chair Tom Kosch said he was ecstatic and relieved the 30-year-old club had been preserved for the Mount Gambier community.
With its future on a knife-edge for months, he said it had been a “traumatic and stressful” time for the board of management and the regional basketball community.
“The board has been on tenterhooks,” Mr Kosch said.
While the club’s men’s team had lost a number of players due to the uncertainty, Mr Kosch said he was confident the club would field two competitive teams.
Mr Kosch said the recruitment process was already under way for a head coach for the women’s team, as well as players.
Mr Kosch said the club was already searching for talented regional players from Mount Gambier and the Limestone Coast, as well as across the border into Hamilton and Portland.
But he conceded it would be a challenging process putting together a women’s team “from scratch”.
The club leader said the Premier League teams were supportive of the Pioneers playing in the competition even though it threw up a number of logistical challenges.
“They were supportive in the fact they wanted to see the Pioneers remain relevant,” Mr Kosch said.
While Basketball Australia had agreed to fund the travel costs of the teams to Mount Gambier, he revealed the Pioneers would have to contribute some funds.
Basketball SA chairman Mark Lampshire congratulated Basketball SA, the Mount Gambier Pioneers and 10 Premier League clubs for their “collaborative bipartisan approach”.
“The majority approval from the Premier League clubs to embrace Mount Gambier Pioneers’ application to join the Premier League in 2019 has the full support of the Basketball SA Commission,” Mr Lampshire said.
“This is a terrific demonstration of all stakeholders within South Australian basketball making decisions that have the best interests of basketball at heart.”
Mr Lampshire described the negotiation process over the past week as “complex”.
“We welcome both men and women’s teams representing Mount Gambier Pioneers into the 2019 Premier League competition,” the Basketball SA chief said.
According to a statement, it has been a difficult road for the Pioneers to find a new league.
Early this month the Pioneers asked Basketball Victoria to review its request to join its competition.
One of the non-eligibility determinations included the requirement for Basketball Victoria to make constitutional change to allow a South Australian team to enter the Big V competition.
After lengthy discussions and with the final appeal by Mount Gambier Pioneers being rejected by Basketball Victoria, the Pioneers explored the option of joining the South Australian Premier League.
Over the past week, the 10 Premier League clubs – with the support of Basketball SA – have considered the Pioneers Basketball Club’s application to join the 2019 Premier League Competition.
This required concessions by all parties and recognition that given the short lead in time, Mount Gambier may not fulfill some of BSA’s Premier League by-law requirements and would require the participating Premier League clubs to support amendments to the current BSA by-laws.
A number of further considerations also needed to be agreed to.
Late last week the 10 Premier League clubs resolved to accept the Mount Gambier Pioneers into the 2019 Premier League competition under a one-year agreement.
The Pioneers will continue to apply for a position in the Victorian Elite League throughout the course of the season with the aim to enter the Victorian Elite League in 2020.
