Basketball New Zealand has had to pull the plug on the Women’s National Basketball Invitational after two of the four teams withdrew at late notice.

The two round-robin tournaments were designed to provide Kiwi women with another high level of competition after the Women’s Basketball League ended this month. They were scheduled to start this weekend.

But the concept founded when Waikato withdrew and, with no viable replacement available at such short notice, Otago chose not to contest a three-team draw.

Only Canterbury and Harbour, both of whom had allocated considerable resources to their teams and bolstered their rosters with invited players, remained committed to the cause.

“The loss of the WNBI is a tragedy and a reflection of our associations’ lack of vision for the women’s game,” laments BBNZ chief executive Bryn McGoldrick. “These teams represented our four biggest associations and it is very disappointing we could not make it work.

“I feel sorry for Canterbury, in particular, because they invested a lot of time and money preparing for the tournament. They have every right to feel ripped off.”

A full women’s national league was last contested in 2005, won by the Canterbury Wildcats, but was abandoned last year when insufficient teams entered.

A subsequent conference-based format, pitting full representative sides against club and school teams, has met with mixed reviews, but was a genuine attempt to develop programmes strong enough to rebuild a national league.

Cancellation of the WNBI is a setback in that process.

“We remain very committed to promoting women’s basketball in New Zealand,” says McGoldrick.

“We believe the Tall Fern programme and the new Christchurch-based entry into the Australian league demonstrate that commitment at international level, but we need some help from our associations to keep it healthy at a national level.”

basketball.org.nz