BASKETBALL: Inquiry to be held into weekend violence

BASKETBALL

A special disciplinary inquiry will be held in Leicester next Wednesday to decide the fate of the London Leopards' player, DeCarlo Deveaux, who ruined the sport's image last weekend when he headbutted a Derby Bucks player, and chased another while wielding a piece of wood during a Budweiser League game, writes Duncan Hooper.

Kevin Routledge, chairman of the Basketball League, and two of the English Basketball Association's most senior figures, Alan Hodgkinson and Morris Wordsworth, will conduct the inquiry.

Deveaux, who arrived in England only five weeks ago as a replacement for another of London's Americans, has been suspended by his club pending the inquiry. It hardly seems feasible he will take any further part in the remainder of the season.

Other disciplinary measures will result from the game, which was suspended four minutes from time when almost all 20 players brawled after Deveaux headbutted Andy Gardiner. A crowd of 1,100 at the Moorways Leisure Centre in Derby watched in astonishment as Deveaux then chased Tim Lascelles, brandishing a piece of wood he had snapped from a courtside advertising board.

n Jim Brandon, who coached Sheffield Sharks to their first National Cup title with an 89-66 victory over Thames Valley Tigers on Sunday, has signed a contract with the Yorkshire club for a further two seasons.