Head coach of the Spooners Hill Firebirds, Alwyn Babb, is accusing the Barbados Netball Association (BNA) of having double standards.
Babb, who resigned from the position of Under-21 national head coach on Tuesday, has claimed that the Firebirds are being unfairly treated.
On April 15, Babb called his team off the court because of what he said was poor officiating during a Premier League clash with St Barnabas at the Netball Stadium.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Babb said Division 5 side Pride of Villa had also walked off the court during their match against UWI Blackbirds earlier in the season.
He maintained that while Pride of Villa had received a “slap on the wrist”, his side was being dragged through the coals.
“Another coach took the same decision to call players off the court amidst concerns with umpiring and the safety of players. I want to know why our case is being treated differently?” Babb questioned.
He said while that matter was heard by the tournament committee and Pride of Villa had resumed playing, Spooners Hill’s matter had been sent to a disciplinary hearing.
Babb said the planned disciplinary hearing set for Thursday had been postponed “until further notice”.
The veteran coach said Spooners Hill had been slapped with a two-game suspension and were now in limbo.
However, when contacted BNA president Dr Carmeta Douglin refuted Babb’s claims.
She told Barbados TODAY that while Pride of Villa had appeared before a tournament committee, she said Spooners Hill had been given the same opportunity but refused to meet.
Dr Douglin said Pride of Villa had been reprimanded for their actions.
“The same thing that was done to Villa was done to them. The tournament committee requested a meeting with Villa, they met with them and they told them up front what they did was wrong. The team was told it would have to miss two games and pay a fine, while the coach would have to miss an additional game.
“They wrote a letter of apology. They did everything that they were supposed to do,” Dr Douglin maintained.
“They [Spooners Hill] refused the opportunity to go in front of the tournament committee. The received the same treatment that Villa received.”
And while Babb contended that the poor state of umpiring had led the two teams to take action, Dr Douglin said that behavior was unacceptable.
She said that even if the coaches were not in favour of the officiating, there were other ways to deal with the matter.
“When you go to World Tournaments, whatever officiating you have, you can’t be pulling the team off the court. You have to play along with it,” the BNA president said.
“You can’t take matters into your own hands, regardless of what they thought about the officiating. You have to live with it because those are the umpires we have and those are the ones we have to use, so you just have to live with it.
“I think in that particular match there was no problem with the officiating and they did an excellent job. Those were two of our senior umpires and they were in control of the contest,” she added.
