THIS week, Martyn gives his reaction to last week’s postponement when the game with Hemel Storm was called off 24 hours ahead of the match. Hemel said injuries in their squad meant they did not have enough players. City of Birmingham Rockets were not happy about the decision and are waiting to see what league officials say on the matter. In the meantime, Rockets go to Loughborough on Saturday, aiming to end 2025 on a winning note.
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LAST week’s decision to postpone our home game against Hemel Storm was a little bit controversial to say the least.
I think it’s the first time that it’s happened in our new league, and it’s one of those things that we need to know how to deal with in the future.
Hemel called it off due to the number of injuries in their team. But, at the end of the day, no one should be postponing games.
Not because of kind of a couple of injuries. Maybe you should have some reserves in place. But that’s not for me to say, and it’s up to the league to decide how they go about that.
We were prepared to play them nonetheless. We wanted to go out there and get a win. And the next time we play them, we’ll prepare the same way.
‼️ We regret to announce that tomorrow’s BCB game against Hemel has been postponed as our visitors are unable to field a team due to injuries.
Please see the full statement for details.
Our next home game will now be on Sunday 4th January 2026 against Newcastle Knights. pic.twitter.com/JHVSmKnDF4
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) December 12, 2025
It was at 24 hours’ notice, but we still really wanted to play. And it was disappointing, not just for the team, but also for the home fans who’d bought tickets for the game.
We have a regular following of supporters who come to see us on Saturdays. It’s something they missed out on.
So far, there’s nothing set in stone about the postponement or any sanctions. We’ll have to see what the league does with that.
We don’t want it to not benefit us or impact us in a negative way, because in the new year, it means we’re going to have to have another double header or a midweek game, which is not what we really want when we have our schedule planned.
But, this is the second postponement we’ve had in one season – neither because of any fault of ours.
🏆 We are now taking expressions of interest for tickets and travel ahead of the BCB Trophy final!
Please fill out the following form to be the first to know as soon as tickets go on sale!
👉 https://t.co/ZSfiaVIWyH#WeAreRockets pic.twitter.com/eLW4j8IpBA
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) December 15, 2025
I’ve honestly never known this before. The Reading Rockets game was called off due to a leaky roof while we were travelling to the venue.
We also have our BCB Trophy Final to fit in next March. So there’ll be a lot of cramming to do. Our bodies won’t have the same time to recover if the games are too close together.
So let’s see what happens with that. It means our next home game will be against Newcastle on January 4.
First though, it’s our final game of 2025 at Loughborough Riders.
And obviously, we’re all raring to go after missing out on a game last weekend.
It should be an exciting game. They’re playing really well. They’re playing really exciting basketball. Hats off to them for what they’re doing at the moment. But we’re going there with the game plan to win.
And as the first half of the season draws to a close, I feel we’re going from strength to strength as a club. It’s peaks and troughs, but we’re having more peaks than troughs at the moment.
Our Christmas break follows, and Ricardo D’Alva and myself are heading up a shooting camp for youngsters along with a few other guys next week.
At this point in my career, happy to give back any knowledge and wisdom that I’ve learnt about the game. So, any advice or training methods that I can give to kids who want to aspire to a higher level, I’m happy to do so. So that’s what we’re doing next week, and hopefully it’s something that we can do more of in the future, as these sessions are now sold out.
All that’s left is to wish all readers and Rockets supporters a Happy Christmas!
