UPDATE: Gerry Perez has now resigned from his position as president of the BBF
On the morning of Monday April 26th, the British Baseball Federation posted a promo image for the up-and-coming WB-UK BBF Women's Baseball League. The graphic contained a stock image looking over the shoulder of a woman who appeared to be wearing nothing except a batting helmet and fielding glove, not appropriate for an official account and entirely unnecessary considering the amount of actual British baseball images available.
The BBF then proceeded to do themselves no favours by taking four days to issue an apology filled with PR jargon that reeked of insincerity and only succeeded in inviting more condemnation onto themselves. Not to de outdone, they then proceeded to one-up themselves by releasing a follow up statement with the aim of diffusing the situation, which like their apology, backfired immensely and officially called into question the competence of the BBF to properly govern the sport.
The reaction of the British baseball community has been admirable, with a number of clubs releasing statements condemning the the initial post and airing their grievances towards the BBF and it's recent governance of the sport. Most notably among those taking action were Molly Willcox, a director at both Bristol baseball club and WB-UK, who announced she would not be partaking in any BBF affiliated activities until the current president, Gerry Perez, resigned.
Furthermore, Amanda 'Doris' Hocking, manager of the inaugural Women's GB national team and an instrumental part in setting up WB-UK and developing the Women's League, still due to begin this year, resigned from her post in protest. A bombshell moment for British baseball that prompted a statement from the GB national team condemning the organisation it is obliged to report to.
Therein lies the the issue, the BBF is the National Governing Body (NGB) of baseball in the UK, making the organisation and the people who run it virtually untouchable. standing president Gerry Perez has demonstrated throughout his tenure that he is not fit to guide baseball in this country to a prosperous future. Whether it be this latest debacle, which according to our sources he is personally responsible for, or the fact that the BBF has been losing clubs left and right over the past few years. The BBL, WMBL, EEBL and SWBL were all setup as independent breakaway leagues in the wake of poor leadership by the BBF, as a result there is no truly national league in this country.
There is a rocky potential pathway away from the BBF if Gerry Perez does not resign, the BBF can be removed as the NGB, in the eyes of Sport England, by will of the people; The difficult part lies with the BBF's membership to the WBSC. The WBSC recognises the BBF as the sole NGB, giving it the exclusive right to preside over the GB national team. In order to topple the BBF, it would require the GB national team to openly reject the organisation and for another fully established organisation to step in almost immediately as being recognised by Sport England as the new NGB.
It's not impossible, but would require some gut wrenching decisions and precision planning by people who have already given everything they have to develop baseball in this country. For now, all we can do is make our voices heard as loud as possible, any interested group or individual can submit a formal complaint regarding this incident via info@britishbaseball.org. Alternatively, you can contact Gerry Perez at the BBF directly via phone and email which can be found HERE.
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