Southern Zone Basketball League (Sozobal) is undecided on the punishment to mete out to Bangwe Bucks for abandoning the 2013 league season midway.
Financial hiccups, migration of key players to other countries and work commitments of other players have forced the Bangwe-based team to pull out of the 12-member league.
According to the league’s rules, the team is supposed to be banned from participating in next season’s contest and should be fined in excess of K10 000 (about $25) for disrupting the fixtures.
However, Sozobal chairperson Hamlet Kamtengeni told Nation on Sunday that imposing a punishment would be against their objective to attract and register more teams.
He also said their hands are tied because the league is not sponsored and teams participate just for fun. The league has had no sponsorship for the past five years.
“Our rules stipulate that a team that dumps the league has to be banned and pay a fine. Nevertheless, we have a situation where we are in a campaign to get more teams into the league.
“Banning a team for such indiscipline is the right thing to do to ensure there is sanity in the league but on the other hand, such a move would mean killing the sport because we would have few contesting teams in the future,” he said.
Out of their 11 first-round games, the team played nine matches, winning two, drawing one and losing six. They forfeited two games and they stand on position 11 with 10 points. They have honoured none of their fixtures in the second round.
According to Bangwe Bucks captain Jonathan Zuze, the main reason for dumping the league was players’ exodus.
“We only remained with five players and we felt it could not be possible to complete our fixtures with such a squad. We knew the punishments for quitting while the league is in progress but there was nothing we could do,” said Zuze.
Defending champions Bricks, who are expected to face Poly Bobcats at the Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) today, are at the summit of the table on 28 points from 14-straight victories.
Magang’a are second on 24 points from 13 games.
