LOCAL FANS are being urged to make their voices count at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of the Ipswich Basketball Association, with the future of the association hanging in the balance.
The alternative management committee behind a mounting coup brings together business people, former elected representatives and basketball players all sharing one goal – a fresh and productive future for IBA that returns to the grassroots base they say has been neglected in recent years.
Led by former powerbrokers of the association, the potential coup gained pace following the resignation of former general manager David Jordan in November, triggering a landslide of personnel changes, with the vice-president and secretary both standing down, and another well-regarded general member departing, before three committed and passionate staff members were made redundant a month later.
The NBL1 North women’s coach at the time was also released via email while away coaching a national representative team, with the subsequent appointment of Brad George reaping few tangible on-court rewards.
More recently, the current management committee was threatened with legal action over concerns regarding the upcoming AGM, leading to a change in date to alter nomination requirements.
Then came the $170 million elephant in the room of Ipswich sport in the form of a proposed indoor arena at Ipswich Turf Club.
Current IBA president Toni Caldwell came out to the media slamming the Ipswich City Council, expressing her disappointment that it had not made a funding commitment towards the feasibility study.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding responded to this claim.
“I was first presented with the stadium proposal from the Ipswich Basketball Association and the Ipswich Turf Club in a meeting on 13 June 2024,” Cr Harding told Local Ipswich News.
“Council is currently working on an indoor sports strategy, so we know the strong need for a new indoor sport facility to cater for many indoor sports in our fast-growing city.
“While it would be the Queensland or Australian governments that would ultimately fund a proposal of this scale, Council is very open to considering a request for feasibility funding to get the ball rolling.”
The rescheduled AGM will be held at JBS Arena, Bundamba on July 26 at 6.30pm.
Full disclosure that the writer of this article was once a member of the management committee but no longer has any affiliation with Ipswich Basketball.
