-admits his association has not done enough
President of the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) Uborn Smith has admitted that the present state of basketball in Linden is abysmal. Speaking exclusively to Stabroek Sport earlier this week, Smith gave details of his successes and failures while at the helm of the game in the mining town.
“I have not succeeded nor was I successful in what I had planned for basketball in Linden,” Smith said.
His administration took office in July 2007 after then President, Colin ‘BL’ Aaron, was not favoured by the clubs to continue at the top of the sport.
But the Wismar resident and administration have come in for some serious fire from some of the clubs in Linden who feel they are not doing much for the sport.
This had previously led Smith into thinking of stepping down, but he has reconsidered since he felt he owed it to the clubs to try and get basketball back to where it used to be.
The clubs’ frustrations could be seen as just. Apart from the National Communications Network (NCN) sponsored third-division championship in 2007, the LABA Elite tournament and the present incomplete first-division league, no other competition was run by the association.
However, it did sanction a few tournaments including the Brusche’s Classic that featured teams from Georgetown and Linden.
The failed vision
Smith openly accepted that his association failed to live up to its initial directive, which was to not only have basketball played on a regular basis, but to also develop the game and its infrastructure.
“I think that I can say that we have failed to live up to our mandate which we set out after taking office almost two years ago. People want to see basketball being played but when it comes to doing the job, it’s a problem,” said Smith.
He further mentioned that they had wanted to decentralize basketball from Mackenzie and spread it to the other areas of Linden.
“People in Linden think that basketball should be played at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) court alone and when I took office, I wanted to change that concept. The good thing about Linden is that clubs come from [all of the] communities around and this would have made it easy for us. I was even advocating to build some courts in communities that don’t have facilities, but I alone am not the association.”
Apart from the MSC, the Christianburg hard court at Wismar is the only other venue that is fitted with seating. The others in Retrieve and Amelia’s ward are yet to be developed.
“We spoke about going to the Retrieve area and developing that into our home [base] after the idea of playing across the river [Wismar] fell apart, but then we ran into some problems with the residents. And thinking about going to Amelia’s Ward was out too ‘cause it’s a bit too far,” said the LABA boss.
Becoming unpopular
Smith said he became an unpopular figure within the LABA because of certain positions which he had taken just to see the game played and administered the right way. Giving a few examples, he spoke of when he moved to have a member of the executive removed because he felt that he had no time for time wasters in his administration.
Then he spoke of the fallout between his association and the New Era promotional group out of Linden. New Era came on the scene in 2006 splurging big money into the sport over the two years it lasted. However, negotiations between LABA and the group fell apart in 2008, which would have made the third year running for the event.
Smith was reluctant to disclose what really transpired but only stated that he received full backing from his executive for turning down the offer made to LABA for the competition. However, behind his back, he said, they (the executive members) put it out to the public as if he was the person who instigated the souring of the deal.
Among some of the challenges which faced his association was the unwillingness of one of Linden’s most dominant clubs, the Kashif and Shanghai Kings, to take part in the first division league.
The league, which started since last September, saw the Kings pulling out after they felt the association’s plans to harness the prize money for the league were not legitimate and guaranteeing of a monetary prize.
This forced the association to debar the Kings from first-division competition and relegate them to second division.
Elections
The LABA elections were supposed to be held March this year, but since the association is still running off the first-division league, they have been pushed back to May.
Interest has been spiked in the elections this year after the present LABA organizing secretary Abdulla ‘Zico’ Hamid, publicly stated that he would be running for president. In making the announcement, Hamid also shared some of his plans for the sport.
The present LABA boss said he saw no problem with a member of his executive wanting to run for president, but the announcement of his candidacy revealed “how much people really care” about the sport’s development.
“I have no problem with Zico running for president,” Smith said. “I think it’s good as well, but if you are in an organisation and you have all these plans as he says, why not work with the same organization and produce your plans, so that the sport can get better. But like I said, I don’t have a problem nor do I see it as a conflict of interest.”
Smith has not yet indicated if he will be seeking re-election although he has said that basketball is still close to his heart.
