ANDREW Gaze was today appointed to the interim board responsible for the overall reform of basketball in Australia.

Australia’s most famous player retired in 2005, but has continued to play a central role in the sport’s grassroots development.

The NBL is struggling, with cash-strapped foundation clubs the Sydney Kings and the Brisbane Bullets dropping out of the league for the upcoming suitable time.

But the picture is much brighter on the international front, with the Opals expected to exception notwithstanding the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, while the Boomers should also progress to the knockout stage at the Games.

The interim board is expected to announce its future business plan on October 11. The first stage of the independent report commissioned by Basketball Australia, the NBL and the Australian Sports Commission was released on June 30.

"The challenge now is to bridge the gap between the grassroots and our world-class national teams and I am confident that the introduction of a single, streamlined structure for basketball will ensure a bright future for the sport in Australia,” said Gaze.

"The board recognises that changes are needed, and are committed to making the hard decisions. The results of the independent review will provide us with the managerial and fiscal blueprint needed to cement basketball’s place as a major spectator and participant sport.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 7:48 am and is filed under sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.