Sheffield Sharks and Hatters games given go-ahead in thawing of basketball's civil war

Both teams saw last weekend’s fixtures postponed because the referees refused to officiate their games in the wake of Sheffield owner Vaughn Millette’s disparaging social media posts about an official. Millette apologised last Friday and resigned from his post as interim chairman of Super League.

Atiba Lyons, the Sharks head coach, had earlier in the week released a statement in which he claimed he had been made to feel a victim of unconscious bias against him.

All other games across SLB’s men’s and women’s leagues went ahead from Friday onwards, except the two fixtures involving the Sharks and the Hatters.

It is understood talks have been held by the league and the referees in order to get Sheffield’s fixtures back on and on Wednesday night, the club were informed a peace deal had been struck and their games would go ahead as there will be referees to officiate them.

Sheffield Sharks are due to visit Newcastle Eagles on Friday night and then host the same opponents at the Canon Medical Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Hatters are scheduled to visit Oaklands Wolves in a battle of the top two in the women’s league on Sunday.

Super League Basketball listed the weekend’s games in both the men’s and women’s leagues on social media on Wednesday afternoon, posts which included the two Sheffield teams, but they had still to confirm the games were going ahead at the time of going to press.

The league said in a statement on Friday afternoon that “All parties – including officials – are fully committed to investigating the (Lyons’) allegations”.

The Yorkshire Post has learned that Lyons raised his concerns on multiple occasions over the past 18 months to Super League Basketball’s internal officiating board. The league has refused to comment when asked for more detail on the nature of the investigation.

The British Basketball Federation, which granted SLB the licence to run the league this year but has since awarded exclusivity for those negotiations to an external group for next season - setting them at odds with SLB - has also been contacted for comment. They were asked if they were conducting an investigation of their own into Lyons’ claims of unconscious bias.

A spokesperson said: “The BBF has not received a complaint or any direct communication in relation to Mr Lyons’ concerns and whilst other investigations continue, we will not be providing further comment.

“SLB Ltd is responsible for officiating the Men’s professional league under the terms of the interim licence.

“In line with BBF and FIBA regulations, we have documented safeguarding and integrity policies and procedures. With a duty of care, we encourage anyone in the game with concerns to raise them with the BBF integrity team.”