BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – RETURNING Premier Division champion in the LIME St. Kitts Amateur Basketball Association (SKABA), S. L. Horsford’s Ghetto Roots, will not be participating in this year’s season until a conflict over the religious rights of one of their players is settled.
The player in question is Dale Rochester, a practicing member of the Bobo Shanti, and SKABA executive members have barred him from playing because of the headdress his religion requires him to wear at all times in public, even during basketball games.
Rochester has been involved in basketball for many years and played a number of seasons with the Cayon Lions without issue. However, after joining Ghetto Roots in 2009 he was told by referees and executive members that he would no longer be able to play because of his turban.
“I and I come from the Bobo Shanti tribe really and within the law of Bobo Shanti I and I really ain’t supposed to take off I and I headgear unless I and I going to wash off or tend to it in a different way, but to just take it off in the public like that is not a part of it,” Rochester told the media at last night’s (Apr. 11) SKABA League opening.
Ghetto Roots Head Coach Dr. Garfield Alexander, who led the team to a Premier Division championship in his inaugural season in that position, said that the team was stunned by the ruling and found it to be an arbitrary decision that violated Rochester’s rights.
“SKABA informed us last year that this headdress was in direct violation of F.I.B.A. rules. We operate on our local rules, but we are guided by F.I.B.A. rules. Their rules state that no headdress that acts as an impediment or gives an unfair advantage to the opposing player can be worn.
“As we know, the turban does not serve in any way as such,” Alexander said.
The coach noted that no official warning was ever sent to the team, nor had any ruling been made by the SKABA executive on the matter, and yet Rochester was continually barred from playing in the league by match officials.
As a protest to this action by SKABA, Ghetto Roots contacted their team lawyers and notified the executive that they were not to be scheduled in any fixtrued games until the matter was officially ruled upon by the body.
“This year again we filed a letter to the association about the player asking if a decision can be made officially. We got no response. We brought it up in the meeting and we were shot down again. This is in direct constitutional violation of this person’s right to play.
“Because we felt so passionate about the matter, we then sought legal advice and we sent a letter by our lawyers trying to have an injunction on the league until this matter can be settled,” Alexander stated.
According to the coach, their boycott of the league was outside of a single exhibition match they were scheduled to play against the British Virgin Islands’ Talk Dat at last night’s season opening.
However, in a surprise move and with no warning, SKABA President James ‘Barman’ Hanley announced in his opening remarks of the league that Ghetto Roots would not be allowed to play the exhibition match even though they were fully dressed and prepared to do so.
“[Ghetto Roots] have asked us not to fixture any games for them until a decision is taken. We consulted with our lawyers and they advised us not to let them play that game [against BVI] pending the matter going before the appeals board,” Hanley told the gathered crowd.
Hanley later told SKNVibes that because Ghetto Roots had asked that "fixtures for games involving Ghetto Roots team be postponed to a later date", they would not be able to play against BVI because it was a fixture game.
The St. Pauls Hard Wine Tuff Knots were appointed as a last second replacement for Ghetto Roots, a decision that Alexander said the entire team was stunned by.
“I can only say that I am very much disappointed in this action and I don’t understand why it was taken…. This goes beyond F.I.B.A. This goes beyond SKABA. This goes beyond Dale Rochester. This is about the constitutional right of each person to practice their religion freely.”
Hanley, who is also Head Coach of Ghetto Roots’ main Premier Division rival Rams Hitters, added in his opening remarks that an Appeals Board would be put in place today (Apr. 12) to review the matter, though no indication was given as to how that board would be appointed or what the composition would be.
Many Premier League players openly stated their displeasure with the decision. Among those was Rochester’s former teammate from Cayon, Tyrone O’Loughlin.
“I don’t think any of the other players have a problem with it, and in fact some of the players are glad that he as a Rasta-man has his hair tied up so the locks don’t spin and hit them in the face or something. To me, I don’t think any player is going to have a problem with [Rochester playing], but it is up to the officials to set the rules,” he told SKNVibes.
