Keila, population nearly 10,000, is due next season to be represented in the highest basketball league in the land, the Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML) by two clubs: Keila Coolbet, formerly Keila Basket, managed by Peep Pahv, and by Keila Korvpallikool, whose CEO is Tarmo Hein.

The dispute became public last fall and relates to the routing of sponsorship money and the use of the town's gyms for youth sport.

Most KML teams have the sponsor name as an integral part of their team name: For instance BC Kalev/Cramo, or TalTech/OPTIBET.

The basketball dispute in Keila became public last fall when Keila Basketball School abruptly terminated the employment contract of head coach Peep Pahv.

Another complication arose when one team dropped out of the league to be replaced, not by a team in Keila but by Pirita Palliklubi, in Tallinn.

Tarmo Hein of Keila Korvpallikool said: "Keila Basket is currently operating under the Pirita Palliklubi, so players cannot officially belong to Keila Basket, as the top league spot belongs to Pirita."

"Legally, the town of Keila is in effect supporting the Pirita Palliklubi via taxpayer money."

Pirita is a district of Tallinn and is around 30 kilometers from Keila.

"I hope that if the town government follows the rules, they'll find a way to at least support the area's largest youth sports school with gym time," Hein added, referring to Keila Korvpallikool (literally "Keila basketball school").

"So far, the Tervisekeskus [gym] has prepared and confirmed the schedules. The town has never interfered with who trains at what times before," he added.

Keila Deputy Mayor Maret Lepiksaar (Reform) said: "The goal of the town of Keila is to promote local sports, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that the ongoing dispute between the two basketball club leaders does not harm the well-being of the local community, especially the youth's extracurricular activities.

"No training times will be taken away from any of the basketball school groups that have been operating up to now," Lepiksaar went on.

Keila's KML representation will consist as noted of two clubs: Keila Coolbet, managed by Pahv, and Keila Korvpallikool, led by Hein.

The municipality supports financially Keila Coolbet, but the same municipal government believes that the Keila Korvpallikool team should not be allocated gym time at the expense of other youth activities.

Lepiksaar said the situation, where the Keila town government and its employees have been drawn into a dispute between two coaches, is "unfortunate."

"Over the past six months, we have invested a great deal of work hours to alleviate these tensions. Our desire is for Keila to continue successfully organizing its sports life," the deputy mayor went on.

Lepiksaar noted that prior to the dispute, both Peep Pahv and Tarmo Hein had been heavily involved in developing Keila's basketball scene, and managed a joint top league team.

However now the situation is that Keila Korvpallikool has lawyered-up.

"Since even verbal agreements have been contested, the Keila town government is strictly adhering to current laws and written agreements," Lepiksaar said.

The issue as noted also relates to youth sports and activities.

Lepiksaar said. "Supporting youth activities is our firm priority. Therefore, the new men's team of Keila Korvpallikool, which was established without coordination with the Keila town government in spring 2024, will not be allocated gym time at the expense of youth activities."

"In 2024, the town of Keila is to invest €80,000 to support free sports facilities for children and youth, including the use of school and Tervisekeskus gyms," Lepiksaar noted.

The basketball dispute in the town of Keila became public last fall when Keila Korvpallikool abruptly terminated Peep Pahv's employment, as CEO Hein claimed he had been invoicing the team's supporters on behalf of his own NGO, Keila Basket, instead of through Keila Korvpallikool, thereby diverting sponsorship funds.

"We ended this cooperation in July 2023, and all team financing was supposed to be handled by the Keila Korvpallikool.

"Unfortunately, it turned out that Pahv did not consider the end of the sponsorship cooperation and continued to invoice sponsors through his personal NGO," Hein said at the time.

In June 2022, Keila Korvpallikool had signed a one-year cooperation agreement with the newly established NGO Keila Basket, allowing Pahv to raise sponsorship funds via Keila Basket.

However, Hein stated that this arrangement turned out to prove ineffective.

Pahv for his part recounted that after lengthy negotiations, in which the municipality was involved, a compromise was reached: "Each party agreed to contribute financially to the new season's budget. I would bring in my share, the Keila Korvpallikool would provide its share, and the municipality would contribute its part too," he said last fall.

"The real issue behind this is an attempt to gain access to the sponsors I brought in, their contacts, and relationships. We argued about this for a long time, and it culminated in the termination notice," Pahv went on.

A week later, a compromise was reached, and Pahv was allowed to continue as the club's head coach.

The Keila town government stated that Pahv conceded during a meeting that collecting funds into the Keila Basket NGO account was a mistake. Similarly, Keila Korvpallikool CEO Tarmo Hein admitted that he had been hasty in making the decision to terminate Pahv's contract.

However, by spring, the cooperation between Hein and Pahv had broken down once more, this time seemingly for good.

The team led by Pahv, for sponsorship reasons now known as Keila Coolbet, announced that it would use the Pirita Palliklub's venue for its top league games over the next three seasons.

Following the withdrawal of the Tallinn Kalev/SNABB team from the league, one spot became available, which Keila Korvpallikool decided to fill.

However, Keila municipality support is only extended to Keila Coolbet, and Pahv's team also has priority in scheduling gym time.

"They claimed that Keila Basket and Keila Korvpallikool are two equivalent NGOs. But they're not if we don't receive support or gym time, and now they're even proposing to cut youth gym time," Hein said last week.

According to the municipality's procedures, there may be more than one representative team, but its support will depend primarily on financial possibilities and gym resources.

"The current procedure does not obligate us to support all teams that submit an application," Deputy Mayor Lepiksaar said.

Keila has three sports clubs at the representative team level, with six potential teams: a women's volleyball team, a men's first league football team, two men's basketball teams, and two women's basketball teams.

"With this in mind, Keila has the option to create a sports committee where all clubs are represented equally to contribute to the support of representative teams. Then, when planning the 2025 budget, we can take into account the existence of multiple teams," the deputy mayor added.

Estonian Basketball Association (Eesti Korvpalliliit) Secretary General Gerd Kiili said of the impasse: "I hope this situation will reach a rational and reasonable resolution as Keila is a basketball town, and the primary focus should thus be on training and playing basketball."

There are eight teams in the KML at any one time, and the season-ending playoffs are held April-May. Reigning champions are BC Kalev/Cramo, and the runners up for the 2023-2024 season were Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits.

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