Eagles back move to cancel Belarus basketball game

THE Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has announced the cancellation of the Belarusian men’s basketball team visas following the alarming events in Ukraine.

The Home Secretary tweeted that: “The UK will not welcome the national sports teams of those countries who are complicit in Putin’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of #Ukraine.”

The match between GB and Belarus was due to be held on Monday at the Vertu Motors Arena, home of the Newcastle Eagles.

FIBA confirmed the fixture, the World Cup Qualifier, was postponed given Belarus’s role in supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement on Friday evening, FIBA said: “The decision is based on the evaluation of the current security situation.

“FIBA is closely monitoring the security situation in Europe, as players’ and officials’ safety remain FIBA’S primary concern.”

Newcastle Eagles bosses have backed the decision to postpone tomorrow’s [Monday] World Cup qualifier between Great Britain and Belarus.

There have been growing calls to ban Belarus from any sporting competition with immediate effect following the Eastern European nation’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And late on Friday basketball’s governing body, FIBA, confirmed the Group B clash at Newcastle’s Vertu Motors Arena had been called off.

“We fully support FIBA’S decision,” said Dan Black, sales and communications manager at Newcastle Eagles.

“We look forward to the rescheduled tipoff and want to welcome back British basketball fans to the North East as soon as possible.”

Prior to the postponement, sport’s governing bodies across the globe had been urged to ban the Belarus flag and refrain from playing the country’s national anthem at any outstanding international fixtures.

Now it appears increasingly likely that the former Soviet state will be ostracised from all sporting competition until further notice.

The Vertu Motors Arena was due to host a third successive GB international after acting head coach Marc Steutel’s men defeated European heavyweights Germany and Greece on Tyneside.

The Eagles’ state-of-the-art venue has become the new home for GB senior men’s basketball during the last two years.

Black added: “The Vertu Motors Arena is proud to have been able to host the GB team for the third time this week and everyone at the Eagles was excited to be holding Monday’s game.

“International events like this take a huge amount of co-ordination and planning with many moving parts.

“That’s why we want to thank all of our partners and suppliers for their help and understanding this week.

“The late postponement proved extremely challenging so close to the arrival of the FIBA officials and the final preparations for the venue build.

“But everyone was in complete agreement that it was the right decision.”

Tickets purchased through the Newcastle Eagles box office will be refunded and all ticket holders will receive an email notifying them of this process next week.

A rescheduled date for the game will be announced by FIBA in due course.