By RUSSELL BENNETT
MORE than 2000 residents involved in local basketball are facing uncertain futures following a dispute between the Pakenham and District Basketball Association (PDBA) and Cardinia Shire Council.
As of last Thursday 1 July, domestic basketball competitions at Pakenham’s Cardinia Life stadium are no longer sanctioned by Basketball Victoria (BV) and not covered by BV insurance. This means that the level of insurance available to players in regards to injury or loss of wage is lessened.
Domestic competitions are also no longer regulated by BV as they are not affiliated with the PDBA, and as a result there would be no official Basketball Victoria referees available for games at Cardinia Life and no Basketball Victoria tribunal available to settle disputes.
There aren’t any other stadiums throughout the shire that have the same capacity of Cardinia Life, and PDBA teams would be left to play at venues such as local schools.
“The current situation is that the association is trying to work through the process of managing the basketball competition that’s currently being facilitated out of Cardinia Life – in the best interests of its players, members and the community,” PDBA president Adrian Zemunik said.
“We’re cognisant of the fact that, historically, there’s been very little investment in the sport of basketball from grassroots through to the elite.”
The Gazette understands that Cardinia Shire Council makes a profit of at least $500,000 a year out of basketball, and the PDBA sees no more than 0.64 per cent of that despite paying thousands of dollars per year in court hire fees.
The PDBA dispute is not with Aligned Leisure, which took over management of Cardinia Life on 1 July, but rather with the council itself.
There will be a PDBA member meeting on Wednesday tonight, 6 July, at the basketball courts of Pakenham’s Beaconhills College campus from 7.30pm to discuss the current situation, while the association has let its members know through social media about the changes to domestic competitions.
Mr Zemunik said it would have been irresponsible not to.
“We have no issue with people continuing to play there now, but they need to know that the conditions have changed as of 1 July.”
Mr Zemunik said the PDBA wants to be the controlling and managing body of basketball within the shire at Cardinia Life, and future local venues that run domestic competitions.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the PDBA, the council has said it would be happy to continue to run Pakenham’s representative basketball program out of Cardinia Life – an offer the PDBA has accepted and thanked it for.
The PDBA has well in excess of 2000 members, from school children right through to adults.
While the PDBA and council are yet to come to a resolution, Mr Zemunik said the PDBA was a representative body of its members and it wouldn’t do anything those members didn’t want it to do.
In a statement to the Gazette, the shire’s general manager of community wellbeing Jenny Scicluna said: “Council receives income from the operations of Cardinia Life from a number of areas of the facility’s use. This income is used to repay borrowing for the development of the centre, ongoing maintenance, capital investment and facility operations such as staffing, utilities, insurances, and consumables.
“Cardinia Shire Council has been working with the PDBA over the past 12 months, while it prepared for the tendering and future management of its major recreation facilities.
Competitions in Cardinia Life will continue as per current fixtures. Participants are covered by the facility’s insurances for public liability and professional indemnity.
However, as the competitions are not being sanctioned by Basketball Victoria, those insurances do not apply. Council is working to ensure the same level of insurance will be provided to participants for the remainder of the season.”
