SANDY POINT, St. Kitts (17th February, 2017): The members of the Sandy Point PRIDE basketball organization have been “vindicated” by a High Court of Justice ruling which reaffirmed by way of a Consent order, that the controversial resolution, made by the SKNABA convened Appeals Committee is invalid.

“The SKNABA executive has finally acknowledged the concerns raised in relation to the initial sanctions against three of our players and one of our coaches. They’ve acknowledged and accepted that both the sanctions and the manner of enforcing them were contrary to the Association’s commitment to apply the Rules and Regulations fairly, justly and in accordance with our Constitution and the FIBA International rules.” said Randy DeSouza

This stalemate between the SKNABA and PRIDE has, no doubt, brought about great inconvenience to both parties over the past eight (8) months. However, following mediation and in the wake of a looming court injunction the SKNABA has agreed to quash as null and void the decision of it’s Games Committee dated 1st July 2016, the arbitrary decision of the Appeals Board issued 26th January 2017 and all other decisions whereby suspensions were imposed against SP PRIDE and it’s members.

“What this means is that after eight (8) months the Association has finally done the honorable thing in acknowledging that we (Sandy Point PRIDE) won the 2016 “A” Division Semi-Final Games fairly and have successfully advanced to the Finals with our full roster of players being eligible to play ” said DeS0uza.

“This also means that we have secured our place in the 2017 SKNABA Premier Division; which was one of our preseason goals.” continued DeS0uza

In light of the glaring conflicting interests that were at the heart of the stalemate the SKNABA President-Kenroy Tobias, Vice President-Emilita Warner-Paul, and Games Commissioner-Harold Wharton shall recuse themselves from deliberating in, adjudicating on, or otherwise directly or indirectly involving themselves in disciplinary decisions on any issue which may arise from the upcoming finals.

DeSouza went on to express the urgent need for a SKNABA constitutional reform and executive review, so as to eliminate a number of issues currently plaguing the league and its members.

“We extend our most sincere gratitude to our legal representative Ms Talibah V. Byron of Byron & Byron, for her steadfast counseling throughout the process. Without her guidance, this victory would not have been possible.” said DeSouza “We should all endeavor to learn from this failing and use this opportunity to collectively strengthen the management and involvement of the sport we all love.”