British Basketball will receive £1.18million [€1.50million] from Sport England over the next three years to secure the national team’s future in all levels of the programme, from senior to under-20.
British Basketball though must raise £592,000 [€755,831] in that three-year period through commercial income or contributions from the other home nations, Scotland or Wales.
The emergency funds come courtesy of UK Sport’s refusal to fund Great Britain’s basketball teams as they present little hope at competing for medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The GB Women’s team have qualified for Eurobasket Women next year in Hungary and Romania, while the men failed to advance to Eurobasket next year as they lost all four of their qualifying games.
During that period, GB forward Kieron Achara revealed that the side only had a budget of €18 per player during the qualifiers.
British Basketball chairman Roger Moreland is delighted of the outcome, which gives all programs a chance to prepare for the summer of 2015. But Moreland is aware that the hard work starts now.
“This announcement is very welcome and we thank the Minister for her role in brokering a solution,” Moreland said in a lengthy statement. “We also thank Sport England for their investment and UK Sport for contributing their expertise.
“The role played by the Basketball All Party Parliamentary Group chaired by Sharon Hodgson has been invaluable during this process. Many commentators in the media have been supportive as has the basketball community and the public at large. We thank them all for their support during a challenging period.
“This support enables us to prepare our teams for international competition in 2015. We particularly want to make sure that we can do everything possible to give our women’s team a great chance of succeeding at the European Championship finals, Eurobasket, in Hungary and Romania.
“Turning to the longer term, it is also important that everyone takes the opportunity offered to them by UK Sport to contribute to the consultation about their future strategy.
“Team sports like basketball that mean so much to so many people and play such an important role in encouraging interest in sport, need consistent support into the future. It is important that everyone thinks carefully and takes the opportunity to give their views through that consultation.”
