THE SLOVAK Association of Men's Basketball Clubs (ZMBK) is likely to suspend nationwide competitions following the failure of the Slovak Basketball Association (SBA) to pay referees for October 2010 by the agreed deadline of December 7, sport news website sport.sk sports reported. The suspension would result in the cancellation of the men’s league matches planned on December 8 and December 9, and future games.
“The referees still have not received their money and so decided not to officiate at matches until they get it,” ZMBK chairman Michal Ondruš told the SITA newswire, adding that the matches are not likely to take place.
“We are aware of our mistakes,” SBA president Rudolf Petrovský told SITA. “We have delayed the payments, we are very sorry and we want to rectify this as soon as possible.” He admitted that he could not foresee a solution, but promised that the referees would receive their money by the end of the week, the Sme daily reported.
The SBA management said it receives funding for referees’ payments from clubs four times a year and then pays the referees.
The clubs have backed the referees: the ZMBK says it has paid the SBA everything it owes.
“It was agreed that if the SBA does not have enough money it can use the money which is meant for the referees, but with the proviso that this does not compromise the operation of the league,” Ondruš said.
This is not the first time such a controversy has occurred. Before the first round of the current men's league started on September 25, referees threatened to go on strike. The clubs resolved this by nominating referees without a licence to “whistle” the top competition.
Source: Sme, SITA
Compiled by Dušan Dudík from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
