Basketball New Zealand

Gifford Lee, Waikato Times

Hamilton’s YMCA basketball facility has been labelled a national embarrassment with Waikato Basketball chief executive John Davey threatening to move the city’s national league team to Te Awamutu.

Davey said “enough was enough” after the Hamilton City Council-owned YMCA again proved sub-standard for National Basketball League games on Saturday night.

After 20 years of waiting, Davey said it was high time the city had a netball and basketball venue it could be proud of.

His comments came after digital equipment keeping time and the score during the Waikato Pistons’ win over Manawatu failed and delayed the game by almost an hour. Similar issues arise most seasons at the YMCA.

The match’s first quarter took 40 minutes to complete after the shot clock and then the scoreboard died.

For the rest of the match MC Ronny Phillips had to count down the shot clock and keep the players, referees and small crowd aware of the score.

After the break the time clock packed it in also and the match was delayed again as the scorers and time keepers moved from their elevated position to work court side as communicating with the refs became too confusing.

“We are a very proud sporting region in basketball and netball yet we are asked to play at an absolute crap venue … it is a national embarrassment,” Davey said.

“We need a new venue and it needs to be dedicated to sport and sport alone.”

He said the equipment failure highlighted deeper issues making the YMCA venue below par for hosting national sport.

“The whole infrastructure is now inadequate … the toilets, the seating – they are broken bleachers. I know for a fact people don’t want to come to our games because of this place … it is so frustrating.”

Davey said he felt like taking “the whole franchise away from the city and play(ing) all games in Te Awamutu” and agreed that might be the best option next season.

He said such a move would be a shame, but did not see any alternative.

Council had planned to renovate a Claudelands Showgrounds building solely for wood floor sports but, 11 years on, it is leaning to spending $57 million on a 5000-seat events centre for concerts and sport. But that is not due to open before 2012.

Apart from one game at Mystery Creek yesterday, the Magic have played their National Bank Cup netball home games in Rotorua and Tauranga this season.