Philippine basketball took a severe beating on Thursday after the world basketball federation or FIBA handed down stiff fines and suspensions on 10 Gilas Pilipinas players and coaches Chot Reyes and Jong Uichico for their involvement in an ugly on-court brawl against the Australia Boomers during their FIBA World Cup Qualifier last July 2 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Taking the brunt of the penalties was the country’s basketball governing body Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which is set to pay its biggest fine of CHF 260,000 (Swiss francs) or P13.916 million for the unsportsmanlike behavior of its delegation members and of its public, as well as for insufficient organization of the game.
“The incident, it was a disappointment. Again, we offer our apologies. We hoped it didn’t happen. In a way, honestly, FIBA has been fair in the process. It could have been much worse. So, for me, it’s something we have to accept. But we still have to clarify some facts. If we do that, we can mitigate some things in the decision,” said SBP president Al Panlilio.
Panlilio said the SBP executive committee is set to meet to determine if they will appeal.
While Gilas member Gabe Norwood was spared, Japeth Aguilar and Matthew Wright were slapped one game each; Terence Romeo, Jayson Castro William, Andray Blatche and Jeth Rosario with three games each; and Roger Pogoy, Carl Cruz and Jio Jalalon were sanctioned for five games each, while Calvin Abueva was given the stiffest penalty of six games, due to a previous incident of unsportsmanlike behavior in a FIBA competition.
Head coach Reyes was suspended for a game and will pay a disciplinary fine of CHF10,000, roughly P536,000 for inciting unsportsmanlike behavior.
Assistant Uichico was suspended for three games for unsportsmanlike behavior.
The suspensions imposed on the players will have no bearing on their stints in the Asian Games and in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Executive director Sonny Barrios said discussions are now going on with the Philippine Basketball Association on the players who will replace those who were sanctioned, plus coaches who can take the place of Reyes and Uichico during the games where they will serve their suspensions.
Gilas Pilipinas will play its next game of the second round against Iran on Sept. 13 behind closed doors, which is part of the team’s punishment.
On the other hand, games against Qatar and Kazakhstan won’t be behind closed doors after Barrios talked it out with the disciplinary committee, although there will be no home games for the Gilas team under a probationary period of three years.
On the side of the Australian Boomers, there were only three players suspended for unsportsmanlike behavior, with Chris Goulding suspended for a game, NBA player Thon Makers being slapped a two-game ban and instigator Daniel Kickert penalized for five games. No sanctions were imposed on Nathan Sobey and Jason Cadee.
Basketball Australia was ordered to pay a disciplinary fine of CHF 100,000 for the unsportsmanlike behavior of its players and for abusing and/or tampering of equipment, after removing floor stickers from the court on the eve of the game.
Money from the fines will be used to support the “Basketball for Good” social program launched by the International Basketball Foundation.
Basketball Australia chief executive Anthony Moore said in a statement to the Australian media that his organization is “unlikely” to challenge the sanctions. But it would discuss the possibility of an appeal at a board meeting on Friday.
“As we stated at the outset, Basketball Australia sincerely regrets the incident that occurred in Manila and the involvement of our players in it. The FIBA disciplinary panel’s findings were comprehensive and addressed the key points of our submission,” said Moore.
FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann also announced that it has been decided that the referees of the game will be removed with immediate effect from the FIBA Elite Program and will not be nominated to any international competitions organized or recognized by FIBA for a period of one year.