British basketball at war: Atiba Lyons preparing Sheffield Sharks for game despite referees' strike amid racial profiling row

British basketball’s Referees’ Association has withdrawn its services for SLB games in the wake of disparaging comments made by Sharks owner and league chairman Vaughn Millette against one of their officials in a series of social media posts on Sunday.

Atiba Lyons, the Sharks head coach, released a statement on Tuesday saying that since 2018 he has been the victim of unconscious bias and racial profiling.

“In recent years I have expressed my concerns to all the proper channels to address the differences in the way I am treated and managed,” he wrote. “I have made representations with officials and league officials with genuine pain, sadness and frustration and asked why am I being treated differently.

“The answer has been ‘well Atiba you know the other coaches are harmless and you are more frightening’. As if that is totally reasonable and I should accept that and move on.”

Prior to that, the Referees’ Association wrote a letter to Andy Webb, the league’s chief operating officer, threatening to withdraw their services in response to Millette’s allegations on social media.

“The Referees’ Association strongly condemns these baseless accusations and the public humiliation of our officials,” they wrote.

“It has become increasingly evident that the well-being of referees is not being adequately prioritised by those in leadership positions within the SLB. The lack of accountability for such damaging behaviour sends a concerning message.

"As a result the Referees’ Association has made the difficult but necessary decision to withdraw its officiating services from SLB competition with immediate effect.”

They carried out that threat of strike action for Wednesday night’s game between Bristol and Caledonia Gladiators, prompting the league to postpone the fixture. The next two scheduled fixtures are Sheffield’s trip to Bristol and Leicester Riders versus Newcastle Eagles on Friday night.

Lyons has confirmed to The Yorkshire Post that he has been preparing his team as normal and they will travel down on the day of the game.

The standoff between league and match officials has a knock-on effect for the women’s league, too, with Vanessa Ellis adding that she is also preparing her Sheffield Hatters team as normal for their scheduled game at Essex Rebels on Saturday.

“You have to prepare your teams as if you’re playing because you’re hoping something gets resolved,” said Ellis.

“You just go ahead as normal. You want a resolution to it all.

“I stand right behind Atiba. I do believe something needs to happen.”

It is understood league personnel, including Sharks chief executive Sarah Backovic who has a leading role at league level, are working to try and resolve a standoff that threatens the future of the competition, one that is already facing the threat of losing its licence for next year after the British Basketball Federation (BBF - the governing body) granted an exclusivity period to pursue the running of the league from next season to an external body.

Other than the letter sent to the league by the referees’ association, no match official has responded to a request for comment. It is understood Richard Stokes, the head of officiating at the league, has stood down.

Despite repeated requests for comment from the BBF to questions such as have they responded to Lyons’ statement outlining his concerns, what safeguards do they have in place to prevent this happening again or are they investigating Lyons’ claims, The Yorkshire Post has had no response.

Lyons has told this newspaper that since his revelations on Tuesday, “we have had some positive conversations and things are progressing. That’s heartened me”.