The coming season for both Depiro BC’s men and women is set to ring in a new era as both teams will have new coaches on the sidelines.

Following the season ban for men’s team coach James Bamfield ahead of last season’s playoffs, the club announced on Sunday that women’s coach Ruben Baldacchino will be stepping down in order to fully focus on his pre-existing role as the club’s CEO.

In a statement on the club’s socials, they thanked Baldacchino while confirming that “due to the growth of the club in recent years, he will focus on his role as our club CEO”.

In a statement issued by Baldacchino himself later on, the former Malta international assistant coach explained it was time to make a decision due to the club’s growth.

“In life, you need to take decisions and at this point, I have decided to focus on my management role and take a break from coaching. Not an easy decision as I love coaching but an important one due to the clubs’ growth,” the statement read.

Bamfield replacement

The club is said to be closing in on an American coach to replace men’s coach Bamfield after the Welshman received a season ban by the Malta Basketball Association (MBA) ahead of last season’s playoffs.

The incident which saw him, and Hibernians coach Mario Tabone banned from the remained of the season as well as the full 2022-23 season, took place during the last game of the regular season. Both clubs were charged over the performance and behavior shown by the two sets of players in the closing stages of the game.

Back then, the MBA had issued bans as well as fines to both clubs.

“The coaches James Bamfield, of Depiro BC, and Mario Tabone, of Hibernians, failed to uphold the integrity of the sport, and as a result of their actions, brought the game of Maltese basketball into disrepute not only locally but also across several international media platforms. Subsequently, the MBA Council suspends each respective coach for the remainder of the 2021-22 season and the full season of 2022-23 from all MBA activities,” the association had said in an issued statement.