The history-making participation of Dynamo BBC, the first team from Burundi to participate in the Basketball Africa League, unfortunately comes to an early end after the team chose to forfeit their second consecutive game in the Kalahari Conference, triggering a withdrawal clause from the tournament under FIBA rules.
Dynamo won their debut game in the BAL’s fourth season when they beat conference hosts, the Cape Town Tigers, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria last Saturday, with many believing the Burundian champions can stake a claim in the Kalahari division and even progress to the playoffs.
However, they chose to forfeit their next game in the group phase, a tie against BAL debutants FUS de Rabat, which was slated for Sunday, March 10. The East African team refused to comply with the league’s rules governing jersey and uniform requirements.
Dynamo used black tape to cover the “Visit Rwanda” sponsor logo on their jerseys during their first game against the Tigers due to political tension between Burundi and Rwanda.
With fans and experts hoping they would put the political tension behind them and suit up for their third game in the conference against Angolan side Petro de Luanda, Dynamo have also decided to forfeit the contest, forcing their removal from this edition as two forfeitures in the same tournament trigger the club’s automatic withdrawal as stated under FIBA rules.
The following has been announced by BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall: pic.twitter.com/fQshVlLqzC
— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) March 12, 2024
The news of the team’s forfeiture and withdrawal was announced by BAL’s president, Amadou Gallo Fall, on Tuesday in a statement on the league’s official website.
It read: “Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) has further refused to comply with the Basketball Africa League’s rules and requirements governing jerseys and uniforms, thereby forfeiting today’s game against Petro de Luanda (Angola) and its participation in the 2024 BAL season.
“Under FIBA rules, two forfeitures in the same tournament trigger the club’s automatic withdrawal. This is a very unfortunate situation for the players and fans, and we share the frustrations of everyone involved. All remaining Kalahari Conference games will be played as scheduled, and we look forward to engaging fans in Pretoria through expanded fan and community events.”
As stated by Fall, games in the Kalahari Conference will continue as planned, and Petro de Luanda will receive all maximum points for Dynamo’s forfeiture, just as FUS de Rabat did over the weekend.
The other game scheduled for Tuesday, the Cape Town Tigers against FUS de Rabat, at the SunBet Arena, will go on as planned at 6 p.m. Nigerian time.
