Basketball club Partizan appealed to ensure the regularity of competitions in the ABA league, otherwise they will not even play in the same league anymore.
The Black and Whites said that the reputation of the league is disgraceful, as well as that they will put the interests of Serbian basketball above the interests of individuals.
Partizan's statement is transmitted in its entirety:
"KK Partizan NIS, as the club with the most trophies in the ABA league and as the club that is by far the most watched in the region, has the duty to present to the public the problems in which this league and the clubs, as its owners, find themselves. After the appearance of various media inscriptions about which club whom it supports in the conflict that arose on the basis of unpunished offenses in the final series in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, KK Partizan NIS is obliged to present the following to the basketball public in the region:
Because of the incidents that went unpunished after the 2017/18 season, KK Partizan clearly requested at the ABA League Assembly, before the start of the 2018/19 season, that mechanisms be adopted that will prevent similar things from happening again and that will lead to the perpetrators of such incidents being be adequately punished, which would preserve the integrity of the league. Minutes from the Assembly of the regional competition testify to this request.
After repeated incidents, the reputation of the league is so disgraceful that the clubs, as its owners, are even threatened with a lawsuit by the company Myd Sports, which would seriously question the financing of the league and thus its survival.
KK Partizan NIS will never be a means of pocketing money in the conflicts of the warring parties, especially not in the conflicts of the perpetrators of incidents whose behavior put the survival of the league itself in danger. We will be the club that, with constructive proposals sent to the Assembly of the ABA League and its executive bodies, will give its maximum contribution in preserving the competition that, at this moment, provides participation in the Euroleague and the Eurocup to the entire region.
As a responsible club, Partizan NIS calls on all clubs that will decide on the further fate of the regional competition at the Assembly session on May 24, to ensure a regular competition with their votes, and to adequately sanction the perpetrators of the aforementioned incidents, in accordance with the provisions.
Also, Partizan NIS asks the clubs to set the starting points for all participants in the regional competition equally again, because at the moment it is simply not the case.
If the management of the league and the clubs as its owners, including Partizan NIS, are not able to provide regular conditions for the competition and implement their own regulations, KK Partizan NIS will no longer be part of the ABA league and will turn to other leagues and other solutions.
And on this occasion, KK Partizan NIS notes that, protecting the interests of Serbian basketball, it refused to participate in the first two years after the establishment of the first ABA league, and that it was practically forced to participate in the league, after lobbying by certain Serbian clubs in conjunction with clubs from the region .
As then, Partizan will put the interests of Serbian basketball above the interests of individuals and fight for the good of the clubs and the competition, with the aim of ensuring fair conditions, and not to preserve the privileged positions that individuals reached by magic.
With the desire and belief that the interests of basketball and the desire to protect this game from unwanted events will prevail, KK Partizan NIS sends a sporting greeting to all clubs in the ABA jtd league and the entire sports community in the region.
See you in Banja Luka, on May 24", reads the announcement of Partizan, posted on the club's website.
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