For the majority of fans of sport there is nothing better than watching your team compete at the highest level, going to the ground, arena, hearing the crowd roar as they see that buzzer beating shot, that last minute goal, the home run that wins the game.For one team in British basketball they are looking at a season having gone backwards with little response.
It has been 57 days (at time of writing) since the Mersey Tigers departed the British Basketball League with no proper statement from the division.
There were however 11 words which will haunt the Mersey Tigers fans, club and players alike which ended their spell in British basketball's top tier:
"Follow a Review, the Mersey Tigers have had their franchise withdrawn."
Fans of the team have been faced with the now very real prospect of not having a local team in the BBL for the 2013/14 season.
The team failed to win a single game in the 2012/13 BBL season but no official reason has yet been given.
The club also put out a short statement in response to the expulsion of Liverpool's biggest basketball team:
“We were disappointed that the BBL today announced the withdrawal of the Mersey Tigers franchise.
“We would like to thank our fans for standing by us and hope you understand that, whilst we are in the process of reviewing our options, we will not be making any further comment.”
They said: "From the viewpoint of the fans, we are upset that the team are out [of the league], they gave no explanation - 11 word - and the club have said nothing either."
"The thing is no one knows why the franchise was removed, there are two trains of thought - 1) We didn't win a game; this wasn't acceptable, 2) The Tigers owe money from the old owners but the club are still liable."
"The other thing is the timing, it came as a bit of a shock and a bit out of the blue - we are pretty sure the Tigers were preparing for the next season."
"The BBL made the decision they should explain it, we've paid a lot of money over the years both for the Tigers and BBL games"
"It's very sad not having a BBL team in our local area, the nearest one is 30 miles away, by the time it was announced it was too late for the Tigers to enter another league."
Here are a selection of Tweets from people in regards to the removal of the Tigers:
Any further info on @Merseytigers @BBLofficial ? Been off the grid for a week & was hoping you had enough time to write more than 11 words
— The Mayor (@themayor_tweets) August 30, 2013
Bring Back the Mersey Tigers - PetitionBuzz http://t.co/OtSiX6zku9 @MerseyTigers @BBTheTigers priority of the day tigers fans
— paul maryon (@p_mayo) August 2, 2013
@BBLofficial @MerseyTigers no response bbl eh? Very professional indeed
— Mr anonymous (@AnonymousIuyt) August 20, 2013
We need to show people out there that we care for our team, that we haven't and won't give up the fight to #bringbackthetigers
— BringBackTheTigers (@BBTheTigers) August 21, 2013
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