BANGED UP ABROAD
Philippines game turns into a brawl
BASKETBALL: The chief executive of Basketball Australia, Anthony Moore, admits the sport’s global governing body is in “new territory” as it assesses a wild brawl between the Boomers and the Philippines in their World Cup qualifier on the outskirts of Manilla.
The Boomers were bruised, battered and shaken yesterday but somehow escaped serious injury during chaotic scenes on Monday night that included a prone Chris Goulding being attacked by about a dozen Philippine players and officials, and Nathan Sobey getting hit with a chair thrown by a fan.
Australia won the match but it ended in total farce after 13 players, including four Boomers, were ejected from the game.
The fighting broke out towards the end of the third quarter when Goulding was pushed to the ground by Philippine guard Roger Kogoy with a raised forearm to the head.
Daniel Kickert then came in and struck Kogoy with an elbow to the face and was quickly pounced upon by Philippine players from all corners, and the madness ensued from there.
While the home team’s bench cleared, Australia’s bench players were restrained from doing likewise, which Moore said was to avoid automatic ejections.
Moore admitted Kickert’s action was an “unsavoury act” and “challenging” to defend, but said his main concern was what happened afterwards.
“Whilst we accept our responsibility for our role in last night’s incident, what we don’t accept is the action whereby fans and officials actually get involved in the fray,” Moore told media in Brisbane yesterday.
“We find that absolutely unacceptable.”
Moore did not rule out criminal action being taken against those involved but said Basketball Australia would first allow a FIBA investigation and tribunal process to unfold.
“I can’t speculate on what the sanctions will be because we’re actually in new territory in this regard,” Moore said.
“We want to work with FIBA on the tribunal and get that outcome and we’ll assess our outcomes from there. We have briefed our lawyers on that, as you would expect us to do.”
Moore said Australian players, coaches and officials held genuine fears for their safety in what he described as a “tinderbox” of tension.
“You will have seen in the vision our athletes and coaches actually stayed on the court for a considerable amount of time because that was deemed to be the safest place for our players and coaches,” he said. “That’s a fairly compelling set of circumstances – are we actually going to get out of here unscathed?
“Physically our players are fine. They’re bruised and battered ... (but) all the players are shaken up and Chris in particular.”