New sponsor and format for men's league
Rule on suspended officials changed
The Malta Basketball Association (MBA) 2006-07 men's league is being played under a new format and a title sponsor.
Association president Antonio Mizzi yesterday told the press that Gatorade have replaced Kinnie as title-bearers of the championship which got underway a few weeks ago.
Kinnie had sponsored the men's league for the past ten years without interruptions. Wands Limited, a subsidiary of Farsons, are the local importers of energy sports drink Gatorade.
"We were delighted to conclude this deal with Simonds Farsons Cisk with whom we've established good working relations. Again, they extended their sponsorship agreement for the men's league for yet another year," Magistrate Mizzi said.
"Basketball is a popular sport, no doubt. And thanks to the backing of such firms as Farsons we can ensure that our development programmes and initiatives to make the game more popular, are undertaken without delays."
Up to last season, the men's league was split into two phases with all sides facing each other three times in the regular season before the top four progress to the best-of-five play-off semi-finals and final.
As from this season, the association introduced changes to the format in line with their policy of updating the competition structures.
Now the championship has three phases. In the first stage all teams will play each other on a two-round format. All points gained will be carried to the second phase.
Here, the six teams will be divided in two groups. The top three play in the Championship Pool and the other three compete in the Relegation Pool. In both instances two rounds of matches will be played. A victory in this phase yields two points but teams on the losing side earn no point.
The bottom-placed team in the Relegation Pool will be demoted to Division Two in season 2007/ 2008.
Phase three will see the top two teams in the Championship Pool playing each other in a best-out-three series to determine the national champions.
Board recommendation
Magistrate Mizzi also revealed that the association has accepted a recommendation of the Protests Board and rectified the rules regarding the presence of officials at basketball venues while serving suspension.
"We had some controversies lately about this matter and we wanted to act fast to avoid further uneasy situations.
"The new rule stipulates that club officials serving suspension will not be allowed to follow their team from the stands. They will not be able to attend competitive matches," he said.
Last month, Luxol and Depiro lodged protests against the result of matches in different competitions for men.
They contested the presence of Sliema Wanderers coach Joe Galea in the stands while he was serving suspension. Both protests were not upheld.
Magistrate Mizzi is hopeful the changes will attract more spectators to the Ta' Qali pavilion. He said an increase of 45 per cent in gate receipts has already been registered at this early stage of the season.
"We had to apply some changes to make the championship more interesting," he said.
"As from this season we also introduced an extra referee on court for men's league matches. The early signs suggest that we are moving in the right direction. We had long discussions before implementing the changes, particularly in the format, but we're confident the competition will become more interesting."