BABA stands by its ban

DERRICK GARRETT isn’t budging.
The Barbados Amateur Basketball Association (BABA) president strongly believes that Ricardo Yearwood was given due process and he is standing firmly behind his executive’s ruling to impose a life ban on the Station Hill Cavs forward.
Garrett reaffirmed his council’s decision during a Press conference on Monday just minutes before Station Hill threatened to file an injunction against the BABA.
“He was invited to attend a meeting. He had all the facts presented to him. He responded to the charges, and the [disciplinary] committee made a decision and that decision was ratified by the executive council,” Garrett disclosed.
“In terms of all the issues that have arisen out of that, we’re firmly behind our decision and therefore we will just await whatever process will follow.”
Garrett’s comments preceded conflicting statements issued by Cavs head coach Adrian Craigwell and the club’s attorney, Arthur Holder, later that day.
Both men contended that Yearwood wasn’t given a fair hearing, claiming he never had the opportunity to “cross-examine those making the charges”.
Holder said that it was against that background that he sent a letter to the BABA demanding the life ban be rescinded or face an injunction by tomorrow.
It’s the most recent development in the ongoing Yearwood saga that first arose with Yearwood’s highly-publicized dropkick of Keith Mayers during a Premier League game.
That incident led to the Cavs player being served with a life ban, before Garrett also filed an official police complaint against Yearwood after the latter “threateningly stared him down” during an incident last weekend.
“I can only say that the feedback I have actually received was positive feedback from the general public and from the clubs,” said Garrett of the reception he received after issuing the ban.
But the ongoing saga, coupled with the UWI Games brawl back in May, has since given the sport a negative image in the public eye’s and has retarded Garrett’s progress in rebuilding basketball.
“Certainly at the beginning of this term I think basketball was at its lowest ebb,” the president said.
“We’re slowly trying to rebuild our image and the executive has made decisions in an effort to rebuild that image in the public’s mind and I think we’re slowly beginning to turn the corner in terms of how the game is perceived.
“I know that the recent events more or less have tainted us a little in terms of basketball being looked at as a ‘bad boy’ sport [but] certainly that is so far from the truth.”