Rafnsson: How do you say "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" in Icelandic?
Ten countries have come together to establish a coalition formally protesting the current management situation at FIBA Europe, charging that the recently-formulated newest board does not adequately represent The Continent.
Within the group are some national basketball organizations quite significant to the federation, including Russia (currently at no. 4 in FIBA’s combined rankings) Greece (no. 7), Serbia (no. 9), and Turkey (no. 22). Ukraine, Israel, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Latvia fill out the list of dissenters.
The heads of these 10 federations met on Sunday in Kiev to sign a joint agreement regarding the recent appointment of FIBA senior administration officials which read as follows:
• We express our deep concern about the methods used by some senior administration officials of FIBA Europe in the last election of the leaders of the organization. One result of these manipulations was that a number of leading national basketball federations were excluded from the Bureau of FIBA Europe and will not be represented in it in the next four years. The situation actually provokes the division of European basketball and is extremely dangerous in the light of representation and the successful functioning of FIBA Europe.
• We encourage members of the Board of FIBA Europe to refrain from taking any decision which may in the future subject FIBA Europe to risk from an administrative point of view.
• We emphasize our intention to work together on a number of issues relating to the actions and policies of FIBA Europe, as well as to coordinate positions in order to protect our interests as full members of FIBA Europe, representing a real potential in terms of population (more than 300 million people) and the level of development of basketball. Our attitude will be constructive in nature, which is based on the principles of transparency and sound governance: The focus here will be sent to the optimal development of basketball in Europe.
The FIBA Europe board appointed on May 15 consists of 21 members, each from a different country, plus a president (now Olafur Rafnsson of Iceland) and treasurer (Jan Berteling of Holland). Turgay Demirel of Turkey lost in the vote for the presidency to Rafnsson.
FIBA currently recognizes 52 independent programs in Europe.
