Every sport has behind-the-scenes politics and Vancouver senior boys high school basketball is no exception.
That politics is evident on the court during the basketball extravaganza that is the Lower Mainland zone tournaments, on now, where teams vie for a spot at the Big Dance — the provincial championships in March.
The independent high school AAAA teams in Vancouver, St. George’s and Vancouver College, play in their own Lower Mainland Independent Secondary School Athletic Association league during the regular season.
The bone of contention for the last five years has been whether both private schools should get a spot with the public schools in the Lower Mainland tournament or if they should play each other and send only the winner.
The annual November meeting of the Lower Mainland High School Boys Basketball Association, which includes both public and independent Lower Mainland senior boys basketball coaches, resulted in a 12-team format for the tournament this year that allowed only one berth for the Vancouver independents, based on representation by population.
The independent schools appealed to the British Columbia High School Boys Basketball Association executive and won.
The public schools in turn appealed to the association’s board of governors primarily on the grounds that including both schools from the independent league was not “fair and equitable” to the public school teams in the tourney.
On Feb. 9 the board of governors announced it was upholding the ruling that both private teams could play.
Jon Tagulao, the head of Vancouver College’s basketball program, emailed a statement in response to questions from the Courier about the latest ruling:
“Vancouver College is pleased with the ruling on behalf of all Lower Mainland member schools as we hope for this ruling to be a step forward towards a resolution. We hope for an equitable solution for all in comparison to the entire province, where public and independent schools play together.”
Rick Lopez, president of the Lower Mainland association and head coach of the Churchill Bulldogs said the ruling meant the tourney had to be rejigged to make room for the second-place independent school.
The decision had a direct impact on which public school teams made it to the Lower Mainland playoffs.
Eric Hamber’s team, for example, ended the season in sixth spot in the city and would have made the playoffs, but was knocked out by St. George’s (54-79) in a back door game which seeded the independent school into the tourney.
Lopez said the public school coaches accept the decision of the board, but find it confusing.
“Last year the decision was for us and this year it was against us,” he said.
“The coaches were just unaware of where they made a mistake and why their tournament was overruled because they followed all the rules that are in place, by the B.C. High School Boys Basketball Association, to run the tournament.”
In the previous years this issue has been bouncing around, the independent schools have “won” three times, and been included, the public schools have “won” twice.
The Lower Mainland coaches will get together again this spring for a recap and to try to reach an agreement for next year.
The AAAA Lower Mainland Zone Tournament is on now until Feb. 28 at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
