MP criticises league placement for basketball club

Oxford Hoops are now in the northern pool of English basketball's top league

The decision to place an Oxford basketball club in a pool covering northern England will have a "severe negative impact", an MP has said.

Oxford Hoops won promotion to English basketball's top league last year, but now have to travel as far afield as Teeside to play away fixtures.

Basketball England said this was because the "geographic placement" of the team "aligned better" with the northern pool than any other team in the southern group.

But in a letter to the sport's governing body, Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds asked for the decision to be reconsidered.

"Oxford Hoops are a real success story and this will have a severe negative impact on the club," she wrote.

"It is a particular issue given that the club is very inclusive and for many of the players it is just not feasible to be expecting them to cover the costs of that kind of travel."

"Oxford is not in the north."

The team won promotion to the National Basketball League last season

Having won the south-west pool of the second division last year, the Hoops expected to be placed in the southern conference of the top division for the 2025/26 season.

The top league of English basketball is split into two regional divisions of 12 teams, though two sides have dropped out of the southern group ahead of the new season.

At the moment the Hoops' nearest away match will be about 70 miles (113km) away in Birmingham.

If the team were to be placed in the southern pool of the league their farthest journey would be about the same distance to Southampton.

Their closest away match this season will be 70 miles up the road, in Birmingham

Franky Marulanda, the amateur team's head coach, previously told the BBC that the placement was "ridiculous", adding that seven players had already left after winning division two last year.

"Common sense would say bring Oxford to the south, so each pool has 11 teams," he said.

"We are not a professional outfit, our players pay to play, our guys work full time, and they are parents."

"With all the finances and all the headaches and all the heartache... this could all end up in the rubbish dump," he added.

Basketball England said in its statement it "sympathises" with the Hoops' situation and their current placement in the league structure.

"Teams are allocated into tiers based on their finishing position in the previous season and then split as fairly as possible geographically," the governing body said.