Dynamo forfeit BAL game against Rabat in wake of jersey protest

PRETORIA, South Africa — Burundi’s Dynamo BC have forfeited their Basketball Africa League game against FUS Rabat, set to be played Sunday, in the wake of the Burundian side’s refusal to display tournament sponsor Visit Rwanda’s logo.

Dynamo had blacked out the logo on their jerseys with tape for their opening game against Cape Town Tigers the night before. Dynamo went on to win the game, and in the aftermath Dynamo players declined to delve into detail about the protest, although guard Dhieu Deing confirmed to ESPN that it was related to the political conflict.

Tensions between Rwanda and Burundi escalated in January when Burundi closed the border between the landlocked central-eastern African countries, drawing anger from Rwanda. Weeks prior, Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye accused Paul Kagame’s government of backing the RED-Tabara rebel militia.

The BAL announced on Sunday morning, just hours before the game, that Dynamo and Rabat will not be facing off in the Kalahari Conference fixture, the first of two to be played in Pretoria on Sunday. (Petro de Luanda and Cape Town will square off in the second game.)

The BAL statement read: “Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) has forfeited its game against FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco) on Sunday, March 10 at the SunBet Arena for refusing to comply with the league’s rules governing jersey and uniform requirements, it was announced today by BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall.”

The forfeiture denies a chance for many promising young players to gain exposure. One of them is Dynamo’s BAL Elevate player, Mouhamed Camara (Senegal), who impressed at Basketball Without Borders in Johannesburg last year and for the NBA Africa Academy in Road to BAL qualifying.

“I don’t know what to say, but this competition means a lot for me and it hurts me to be forfeited,” Camara told ESPN.

Bryton Hobbs, who had initially declined to comment on Saturday, explained on Instagram Live on Sunday: “The government told our [club] president [Joe Dassin] that we can’t play, so they told the BAL that we have to forfeit our game because we blocked out the ‘Visit Rwanda’ thing.

“My thing is: We knew what we were getting into coming into the BAL. People had to sign contracts with the sponsors in the contracts and stuff like that, so they knew what they were getting themselves into, and yet we go practice outside for a whole month.

“Then, we get here, finally get a game in; we win by 13, really were up 20 the whole game, just to come to the next day and [have them] say, ‘Hey, you guys can’t play no more because it says Visit Rwanda on the jerseys,’ which is crazy because RwandAir comes in and out of Burundi the whole time.”

Dynamo are currently scheduled to play Angola’s Petro de Luanda on Tuesday in their next game, but Hobbs confirmed it is uncertain whether that is going to go ahead.