Statement by Dorry Kordahi, president and co-owner of the Illawarra Hawks

I have been made aware of comments made by Sydney Kings chairman Paul Smith on SEN1170 yesterday afternoon pertaining to a situation at a Kings training session prior to the cancelled pre-season game between the Hawks and the Kings at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

I am extremely disappointed with the comments made by Smith, particularly those that were disrespectful to me and were nothing short of a personal attack, questioning my integrity and bordering on defamation of character.

Smith’s comments were also inaccurate in many ways. Here are the facts:

1. Sydney was scheduled to train on court between 10:30am and 1:00pm. AT NO TIME did I enter the arena between the times they were conducting their scheduled training.
2. I first entered the arena floor at 1:15pm with an Illawarra Hawks staff member to access the outside concourse. There was no other way to enter the arena as all the doors around the concourse were locked. I was there for less than a minute and NOT ONCE was I asked to leave by any Sydney Kings staff member at that stage.
3. I re-entered the arena at 1:15pm with the Hawks staff member to conduct a review of corporate seating. At that time a number of Kings players were sitting down and a couple were conducting individual shooting drills. Again, NOT ONCE was I asked to leave by any Sydney Kings staff member in attendance.
4. I received a text message from Sydney Kings CEO Chris Pongrass at 1:23pm asking me to leave, to which I politely complied, even though in our views, we believed the Kings had concluded their training session. During this time, messages between Paul, Chris and myself were exchanged acknowledging the situation.
5. To accuse me of ‘spying’ is quite frankly silly and ridiculous and speaks to a Kings ‘culture’ of paranoia, distrust and antagonism.

Smith also made claims on SEN that I “have been dismissive of league staff, loose with protocols, and generally disrespectful to people around the league”. This is utterly, blatantly false, and I would challenge Smith to provide any evidence of this.

In fact, I have the utmost respect for the National Basketball League. I have a very strong relationship with both Larry Kestelman and Jeremy Loelinger, and with many other owners and CEOs, and I have been proactively working with other clubs to try and better the league and provide more positive commercial outcomes.

To illustrate this, prior to the Hawks game against the Adelaide 36ers in round one, I had a very productive breakfast meeting with 36ers chairman and owner Grant Kelley, after which I invited Grant to attend the Hawks training session with me that day.

As for the claims by Smith around code of conduct and protocols – again, I would ask that Smith would provide evidence of my being ‘loose’ with protocols or ignoring the code of conduct. My operations manager has more than 15 years of experience in the NBL and understands league protocols exceptionally well.

Additionally, Paul’s lack of understanding of the history of the Sydney Kings is blatantly obvious when he said that I was an owner of the Kings in June 2013. This is incorrect. I was a part-owner of the club during the 2007-2008 season before the organisation folded. Paul loses all credibility in making these unfounded accusations and launching personal attacks if he can’t get his facts straight.

What Paul obviously also doesn’t understand is that I also headed up a group that raised one million dollars in less than three weeks in an attempt to save the Kings prior to their expulsion from the league. This was reported on by Tim Morrissey of the Daily Telegraph. I had every intention of ensuring the survival of the Kings at the time.

I have been involved in the sport of basketball for more than 30 years. It is a sport to which I have dedicated much of my life, a sport that has given me so much, and I can hold my head high knowing that in all aspects of my life, be they personal, commercial, or in the sporting arena, I always conduct myself with honesty and integrity at all times.

I am appalled by the public attack on me launched by Paul Smith, and I will be seeking legal advice on what action to take next.

- Dorry Kordahi