Luis Mari Sautu was proclaimed president of the Basque Basketball Federation, after defeating Germán Monge 35-14. The majority support makes him face the euphoric future. The accounts and the general feeling encourage one to think that he could have even found the support of Bilbao Basket.
He said that he was going to retire and gets into this puddle.
Yes. My intention was not to run for this election, but there were a very significant number of clubs that disagreed with the existing management and basketball-loving people disenchanted with the trajectory of the Federation and encouraged me. I was told that I was the most suitable consensus person and I decided to step up.
Fly the flag of unity.
Fortunately, Basque basketball was able to show its disagreement with the management that was being carried out and has approved an alternative project that it seeks is to have the architects of basketball, which are the clubs, the coaches and the referees.
He even scratched five votes from Bizkaia.
I had always said it, that there were many Biscayan people who had contacted me to support us. There are many Biscayan from Basque leagues and important competitions that have not had the possibility of having a voice or vote in the Basque assembly. These people have shown us their agreement with the idea that we had that basketball speak, communicate and contribute solutions to the problems that clubs have.
How do you rate Monge’s management?
He has done good things within the Federation. He has innovated, he has introduced technology, but the feeling is that he was more concerned with other things than with basketball.
You accused him of being a presidentialist.
Yes. He is a person who does it unconsciously. When we have ever told him, he feels offended and tells us that he is counting on people. Just yesterday when he defended his program, he told us that all Basque basketball was still with him. If so, he would have won the election! Then the result was that the majority supported our proposal.
You thought you had 30 guaranteed votes and in the end there were more.
I went home very happy because it has been a very tough and difficult electoral process. It was seen that he was not wrong in what I was proposing.
The headquarters will continue in Bilbao, but returning to Txurdinaga and leaving the downtown office.
One of the lines that we had in the program was to make an analysis of the management of the Federation and one of the problems is that the headquarters that the Basque Government left us in Txurdinaga, Germán did not like and he rented another in the center of Bilbao . When you have one that is free and by decision of the president you take it to one that costs you money, although part of it is paid for by the Basque Government … that must be spent on basketball activities.
What other guidelines does your program have?
That of promoting the Basque team. At the time of Arturo Aguado there were two games, male and female, against senior teams. At this time there was one of boys or girls. And then, that all the events carried out by the federation are rotated by the three territories and 90 percent are not focused on Bizkaia. We must enhance the presence of women, not only players, but also coaches and leaders.
Will women’s clubs be represented at assemblies?
Yes.
And it has those of ACB.
The board of directors must be prepared these days. The intention is to have representation from the ACB and women’s clubs and put in as many women as they can contribute. For Álava of the five representatives, there will be two women and the Baskonia will be represented.
The province supported him and Baskonia himself.
Yes. It has been shown that the work we have done in the Alava Federation has deserved the approval of Alava basketball. That has helped the clubs of the province as a block have approved this project.
Will there not be retaliation with those who have supported Monge?
I want to have all the clubs, I said them before and I repeat it now. We are all Basque basketball. Yesterday I had a conversation with the president of the Gipuzkoa Women’s League team (Carmen Muguruza), who is not at the Basque club’s assembly, and I told her that she had me at her disposal, that they could convey to me whatever they wanted.
