WNBL braids: Basketball Australia acknowledge error for failing to remove outdated hair rule

Basketball Australia has admitted it was an oversight not to remove an outdated rule after a star WNBL import roasted the governing body.

Basketball Australia chief executive Matt Scriven concedes it was an oversight not to remove an outdated rule asking WNBL players to tie back their hair braids.

Scriven says the governing body needs to be “better” with policy to ensure the incident never happens again.

Basketball Australia is in damage control after Melbourne Boomers star Tiffany Mitchell called out accused the organisation of discrimination against herby asking her to tie back her braids under a rule that no longer ­exists in world basketball.

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Following the opening two games of her WNBL career, the 27-year-old American took to Instagram on Sunday after an email from the league threatened to keep players with long braids off the court unless they tied them up.

Mitchell wrote it was “clear only the black people in this league has these type of braids”. She said Basketball Australia told her the rule to wear hair up was an old FIBA rule that was no longer in place.

“I’ve played all around the world, in every top league at the highest level and my braids has never been an issue,” ­Mitchell said.

It’s understood FIBA has never had an official rule stating players must wear their hair up. Rather, players were encouraged by match officials to tie their hair up during games for safety reasons.

This was also encouraged so the officials and commentators could see the player’s name and number.

Scriven admits that Basketball Australia should have removed the hair rule and acted sooner. “To be brutally honest, it (removing the hair rule) was missed,” Scriven said. “To be brutally honest, it (removing the hair rule) was missed,” Scriven said.

“We didn’t know it had been taken out, so we need to put in rules and policy that works issues like this on a regular basis, and we are going to put that in place to ensure all the rules are maintained from a WNBL point of view.

Tiffany Mitchell called out the WNBL’s braid ban as a racist incident. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

“We need to get better across the board and put better processes in place so this situation doesn’t happen again where we miss an outdated rule and through a lens of how we are positioning our sport through diversity and women and girls.

“We need to look at all our rules and policies to see if they are relevant and current to the way we want to operate as Basketball Australia. We apologise that it has caused hurt for the players involved.”

Scriven said BA had had conversations with Mitchell and fellow Melbourne Boomers and Opals star Ezi Magbegor to apologise and discuss their concerns.

Basketball Australia reached out to Tiffany Mitchell to apologise. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Indigenous Boomers and NBA star Patty Mills leapt to Mitchell’s defence via social media.

“No one should ever have to be singled out ­because of their colour, origin or ethnicity,” Mills said. “I’m sorry you had to experience this, Tiffany. Sending lots of love and good vibes your way.”

BA released a statement saying it had since “reviewed the rule” and removed it.