Greek professional basketball players have decided to go on strike as of now, after a long meeting held under the Players Union. Therefore the Greek A1 which was due to start this weekend is put on hold for indefinitely.
The players held a meeting and voted at the end. Some minutes ago the votes were counted and an overwhelming 89.5% voted to go on strike. The Greek Players’ Union (PSAK) has 500 players-members.
The Players want to be insured by their teams, paid on time and actions takes against violence which rocks Greek basketball so often.
Earlier the Clubs Association (ESAKE) had sent a letter to the players calling them for a meeting tomorrow evening, no matter what the voting result would be and announced that they will also be holding their own meeting amongst clubs owners, going as far as punishing the players on strike and playing with just foreign players, even in Euro Cups.
Union’s head Lazaros Papadopoulos stated: “The word strike is not correct, we are just putting the league on hold until the amendment required is passed by the Government. Last season they told us they would pass it in three months, but it never happened. So we are not falling for it again. We will play basketball in 2011. We are determined to go all the way this time. There is no basketball in this country. What we had here is a league where half of the teams and players whose constitutional right are not respected.” and continued:
“Basketball has died in Greece and no one has taken notice. We have sent all the interested parties (Clubs Association, Basketball Federation, Sports Ministry) 34 letters and didn’t receive even one reply. While we have received four letters to discuss things with them and we replied positively to all four. This situation where one orders and the rest follow must end. We hope this time our suggestions are taken into consideration. All Union members are united and we have no strike breakers.”
