Super League Basketball has been working privately with the Referees Association to resolve the situation between our league and its referees.

On Sunday Sheffield Sharks owner Vaughn Millette made public allegations on social media against a match official, regarding the treatment of Head Coach Atiba Lyons.

Following these posts, Coach Lyons publicly shared his perspective and experiences, including his attempts to raise these serious concerns across a number of years.

Whilst everyone within our sport has the right and duty to raise concerns about behaviour both on and off the court, SLB recognises the distress caused to our officials and Coach Lyons, by the public nature of these allegations.

There are processes in place across all sports where matters such as these are raised and investigated privately without being shared in the public domain. In this situation these processes have failed both officials and Coach Lyons.

As the board responsible for the governance and operations of our league, this week representatives from SLB have spoken at length with the Referees Association to discuss this privately and agree a way forward that protects our officials’ integrity if allegations are brought against them and their safety moving forward in their roles on court.

All parties – including officials – are fully committed to investigating the allegations and working together moving forward to create a safe and welcoming environment where referees, players, coaches, fans and everyone involved feels respected and protected.

Vaughn Millette has voluntarily stepped down as Interim Chair of the SLB while a full and thorough investigation takes place. Concurrently an investigation into allegations of unconscious bias will be conducted.

The SLB apologises wholeheartedly and unreservedly for the distress that these public allegations have caused and echoes Vaughn Millette’s statement on X (Twitter) earlier that it was wrong of him to publicly infer unconscious bias was responsible for Sheffield Sharks’ results and has apologised unreservedly to Ed Udyanskyy for that.

In a sport and society where conversations like this are so easily ignored, the SLB and match officials agree that it is of vital importance that anyone raising concerns of discrimination is heard and supported.

SLB is sincerely sorry for the inconvenience caused by the postponement of games this week, both parties look forward to getting back on the court.

SLB will make no further comment on this matter whilst due process takes place.