An individual belonging to a sponsor is under investigation by the Basketball Australia Integrity Commission following an incident of alleged racial abuse aimed toward Saibai man and Darwin Salties forward Nate Jawai.
In a statement posted to the NBL1 North clubs Instagram page, it says it has been made aware of an alleged racial incident involving a sponsor and a player.
"Pending the investigation, the individual in question was informed not to attend the Salties semi-final game on the weekend.
"The sponsor subsequently emailed unknown persons naming the player and threatened to cease their sponsorship of the club."
The sponsors were allowed to attend the following semi-final game on the 27th of July, on the condition the individual in question would not attend.
After the semi-final game the club was made aware of allegedly unacceptable behaviour from the same sponsor's box.
“Going forward the club, consistent with its aim to continually improve the way it does things, will be working on improving its onboarding processes with sponsors.”
It's unclear who the sponsor is, what occurred during the second incident, and whether the sponsor is still a sponsor of the club.
In the statement, the Darwin Salties reaffirmed that the club does not accept racism in any form, and will support Nate and his family.
The Australian Basketball Players’ Association Chief Executive Jacob Holmes said in a statement, that the association stands with Nate and that his well-being is their primary focus.
"Nate is a proud Indigenous man and a significant and highly respected member of the Australian basketball community."
"The Players’ Association is providing our full support to Nate and his loved ones to ensure they have the support they need."
“There is no place for racism in Australian basketball,” says Holmes.
