‘Spygate’ sets tone

Hawks-Kings rivalry heating up

SYDNEY Kings have accused rivals Illawarra Hawks of spying on a training session, a claim the Hawks strongly deny.

Tensions between the teams are at boiling point heading into Saturday’s local derby following claims Hawks co-owner and president Dorry Kordahi deliberately stayed in the arena to watch Sydney train.

The incident occurred in late November before the scheduled Kings-Hawks pre-season game in Wollongong, which was later cancelled due to Covid concerns.

Kordahi briefly entered Wollongong Entertainment Centre while the Kings were training to check on the venue’s corporate boxes and attend to other matters.

He was asked why he was there and told to move on.

Kordahi left before returning to the court 10 minutes later when he also received a message from Sydney officials asking him to leave. The Kings were filthy because they believe the Hawks co-owner and president crossed the line by entering the venue during training. They feel he broke a great unwritten ethical rule of sport that says you do not attend a rival’s training.

The Kings were so angry they made a formal complaint to the NBL.

According to Kordahi, however, he wasn’t spying and says Sydney’s session was running 20 minutes over the scheduled time.

When he returned to the court the second time, he said most Kings players had finished their training except for a few players shooting around.

Kordahi said he was in the venue to complete commercial duties, and when he realised the Kings were running over time because they opted to extend their session, he happily left.

Seething Sydney officials do not agree and claim Kordahi knew what he was doing and purposely disrespected the Kings. Kordahi laughed off those claims, declaring Sydney was jealous of the Hawks and he welcomed a rivalry between the clubs heading into Saturday’s blockbuster clash at Sydney Super Dome.

“It’s just the insecurities of the Kings seeing the Hawks come to life and be built into a respected force in a short period of time,” Kordahi said.

“Of course I wouldn’t spy on the Kings, and the second time I walked in they had clearly finished their training session.”