How far does the Argentine basketball crisis go?

“There are a lot of things that have been done very wrong by the Argentine Confederation, which has generated a serious crisis that covers many areas”analyzes Roberto Monti, the president of the Santa Fe Federation, who in April 2021 was expelled by the CAB – “without the right to defense, the only case in the 94 years of the entity’s life”, he clarifies – and after to try everything, from the administrative, legal and political, today exposes the issue, days before a new CAB assembly decides whether to confirm -or not- the removal of the federation from the national team.

“It is a call to an assembly with irregularities, due to the type of call (it should be extraordinary and it is ordinary) and because the statutory deadlines were not met. It should be vetoed, something that we have already requested before the General Inspectorate of Justice”he informs while he goes to explain the reason for the expulsion from Santa Fe two years ago.

“The CAB took advantage of the errors of the Board of Directors prior to my administration to achieve our veto, regardless of the 97 years of life of our Federation. It was a clearly political issue, but we are not surprised: it is a way of acting that claims to defend the institutionality but really only applies legality to those who are politically against it. This is how we see it in Buenos Aires, a federation led by Miguel Chami, his vice 1st in the CAB, which received complaints from various associations and lost in all legal instances, including in the Supreme Court of the Province, but nevertheless his federation she was never expelled. Neither was the one in Córdoba, despite the fact that Mario Ontivero was dismissed as president. Is it because he is the 2nd vice of the CAB chaired by Fabián Borro?” adds Monti.

Two years ago, the CAB took complaints from the Rosarina Association, the last one speaking of irregularities in the call to assembly for the new federative elections, and thus decided to appoint an electoral controller, with executive, ordering and ruling powers, a power that does not existed in the current statute of the CAB, comments Monti. The FBPSF rejected the inspector as inappropriate, but willingly accepted a veedor. The General Inspectorate of the province endorsed the conduct of the federation, rejecting the challenges, and confirmed the elections. Faced with this setback, the CAB doubled its bet and, two days before it was to take place, expelled Santa Fe, “for the irregularities of the last four years and for not accepting an electoral controller,” as stated in part of the official statement of the mother entity. The election, endorsed by the IGPJ, was done in the same way and had Monti as the winner (19-0 in votes).

“I also called President Borro to give him a solution. I told him that we could resign and call elections again, as he had requested, but without an intervenor appointed by him. He did not accept. He also did not answer the letters, in October and December of last year, asking for our reinstatement. We were also unable to move forward with the dialogue. We spoke with Sergio Gatti, CAB secretary, and then with Horacio Muratore, FIBA ​​Honorary President, without receiving an answer other than ‘talk to Borro’. There are really no reasons to maintain this expulsion, other than political differences and an obvious personal rancor. We have everything in order. In the last two years we received the certificate of Legal Status -without observations- from the IGPJ, the body that controls the legality of civil entities in the province. Not knowing what else to do, in February we reported the case to the Buenos Aires IGPJ and we are waiting for a response. We also denounce this week’s assembly”, explains Monti.

One of the most famous players from Santa Fe, Chapu Nocioni, spoke about the subject with the usual commitment. “I am totally against the disaffiliation of a federation, unless it is an extreme issue. If it is as they tell me, in this case, due to past irregularities, there should be a sanction, but not an expulsion that harms the associations, clubs and players, everyone… I spoke with Monti and offered to mediate with Borro. I spoke, I told him my opinion and he listened to me. Now we’ll see what happens. Hopefully it will be solved in another way that is not keeping the federation outside of the mother entity of basketball. It is not the way, ”was his opinion.

The manager assures that being outside CAB causes sports, economic and institutional damage to all the protagonists, beyond the fact that the federation, internally, is in very good health and continues to organize tournaments without problems, with its 350 clubs , including the Santa Fe Cup with 1,200 matches per year, exempting the clubs from paying registration fees and referee fees. “Luckily we are doing very well in terms of sports and economics, but it is never nice to be outside of the mother entity. And also that this happens for the first time in history is a reflection of how bad Argentine basketball is. What is happening with Santa Fe and Buenos Aires is a mess, especially seeing that there is no will to fix anything, ”he adds.

monty he considers it a pity to have to “spend time on this instead of developing our sport”, which he sees in “a serious crisis, more than we think”. And he begins to list problems. “Starting with something conceptual, which comes from the creation of the League (1984): there was never mutual respect for the other, in the case of powerful clubs towards the trainers and also with the desire, for me wrong, of some institutions trainers seeking to compete however, when their role should be the other, to develop players”, she begins and then completes that thought. “The error of indiscriminately increasing the clubs that register in national tournaments is added. Before there were 16 in the League, now 20. Before 24 in TNA, now 34. Before 40 in the Federal, today more than 100. There are not so many players to supply all the teams and foreigners are brought in who take away more than add… Like this The quality of the tournaments, of the matches decreases… And everything is completed with the available chips, today 4 per team. Look if your club formed several kids and you find yourself forcing them to leave because there is no place. All for the worse. In these years, a series of decisions were made that were detrimental to development, always favoring the concentration of power, where teams with the support of governorates or soccer clubs win… ”, he analyzes.

Another problem, he says, is the new transfer system. “Before, the clubs had sports capital to later develop a project. Today they take you to the kids without leaving you anything, unless you make them a five-year contract. Five years in this country, another nonsense. There is also the issue of categories, of ages. They put the U13, you can only compete with 13 because before there is Mini and Premini. It is complex to complete the teams. It should be U14 and so you have two years to form squads. It is what we do. But not on a whim. The CAB Manual that Silvio Santander made says so. But they don’t even respect their manual.. ”, he says. He also wonders what happened to Plan Altura. “You have to go looking from the CAB, because the clubs do what they can. We lack height and even volleyball has captured more than us. Deficiencies that are noticed when the youth teams go out to play outside ”assures.

Monti rejects the concentration of power that has been exercised for years. “You have to open the game, as Chapu Nocioni requested. I spoke with him, also with Scola. Today they don’t want to get involved and I understand them. But I am sure that if a good work group is set up, with all the levels, players, coaches and referees, the boys of the Golden Generation will join. They have a lot to give. The federation leaders must lead but they can contribute a lot of everything they saw around the world ”, he has no doubts.

He also does managerial self-criticism. “Years were wasted. And money. At one time it seemed that there were no resources for a Selection B that, beyond the Golden Generation, went out to touch the outside, for example, but there were for onerous birthday parties… Today only one person decides and that’s how we are. In Argentine basketball, many leaders have reached important places looking for power, figuration or money. Leaders who never really worked for basketball but for them. And now the crisis is serious, in sports, development and even institutional ”, he explains.

At 72, Monti is still fighting. “Because there are a lot of things to do, projects, pending things… Of course I can have shortcomings, but I am always looking to improve, looking forward, working as a team. Argentine basketball does not deserve this reality, ”he comments, but not before leaving a message for the other federations, thinking of the assembly that was called for this Friday. “Hopefully they can revoke the exclusion and support our reincorporation. We are the only federation that is not within the mother entity and we ask for the correction of this injustice. You have to be encouraged to start another process ”, he concludes.