The Wanneroo Basketball Association would like to address the series of unfortunate, uncontrollable events that precluded the majority of our weekend Basketball being performed at Joondalup Basketball Stadium (JBS).

As an Association that is committed to transparency, and to strong and effective lines of communication with its' membership, the following information is to support the various comms provided via social media, the Wolves App, stadium signage and emails over the past 48 hours.

FRIDAY EVENING

On Friday afternoon, around 3.30pm, a huge amount of rain and a big humidity rating, 20% higher than forecasted, combined to create 'frost' like conditions on the concrete run-offs around the JBS courts.

This is an event that happened twice last year, and is a result of very rare weather conditions that can impact Basketball stadiums across WA.

Despite the use of courtside, and baseline fans, a decision was made to cancel the games in the interest of member safety. The courtside run-off areas were very slippery, and the risk of injury assessed as just too great.

The cancellation was notified, immediately, via social media, App blast, stadium signage and via direct contact to our 6-affiliated Junior Domestic clubs.

SATURDAY 

The court hall was temperature controlled as best as possible via the use of fans throughout Friday evening, and upon inspection at 7am, the courtsides were no longer slippery and the stadium was declared as fit for use.

Saturday morning games proceeded with success, and we were back to normal competitive play.

At around 12.30pm, a major vehicle collision on Joondalup Drive contributed to a complete loss of power to JBS - rendering any lights, scoreboards, laptops and cooling fans all inoperable. As a matter of course, the games being played at the time, and games to be played in the immediate following time-slot, were cancelled, and the communication process was put into practice - following the serious road incident. 

Dialogue with Western Power could not provide a clear view on when power would resume, thus a decision was made to cancel all remaining junior domestic games for the day, and relocate the Joondalup Wolves Division 1 and SBL games to Bendat Basketball Centre.

Following assessment and repair, power has resumed to JBS this morning (Sunday), at around 10am. 

We apologise for the inconvenience caused to members, from these uncontrollable events, and we thank and acknowledge those members who assisted in relaying news of these events to others, supporting the overall communication effort.

Further information regarding the cancelled games, and how they will be treated, will be supplied in the days to come, following dialogue with our 6 affiliated Junior Domestic clubs. 

To those members who have been critical, we understand your frustration, but we must again stress that these were factors beyond our control.

The situation provides further compelling reason and motivation as to why we are moving to a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium in 2018 with a renewed focus on acquiring premium facilities, blue-chip, culturally-appropriate sponsors and the very best competitions and development programs in the state. 

All of this - our loyal members deserve. And shall receive. 

We value member feedback - please feel welcome and encouraged to share via feedback@wolves.asn.au 

 

Wolves Management