Melee at the Arena

It was a chippy game no doubt but little did I expect that it would escalate the way it did.
I am talking, of course, of the melee that happened on Monday night between Gilas Pilipinas and the Australian Boomers in their key match in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
As we all know by now, a bench-clearing marred said game in the third period, leading to players from both teams — four for Australia and nine for the Philippines — being ejected from the contest that eventually led to the match prematurely ending at the 1:57 mark of the third period after Gilas was left with only one player on the court — Baser Amer — following the intentional fouling out of the two other players — June Mar Fajardo and Gabe Norwood — who were not kicked out of the court following the fracas.
The abrupt ending gave the Australians by default the 89-53 victory that allowed them to seize solo Group B leadership heading into the next round of the tournament.
A series of events seemingly led to the unfortunate outcome.
There was the “peeling” incident involving the Australian team a day before where in a closed-door practice it took liberty in peeling off FIBA-approved decals on the floor over “safety concerns” for its players.
The move did not sit well in particular with the local organizing committee, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the management of the Philippine Arena, describing the act as “uncalled for” and could have been handled more appropriately.
Then there was the incident between some Gilas players and Australian player Daniel Kickert in the warm-ups where the latter reportedly hit the Filipinos during the layup line that caused a commotion.
During the game itself, there was a lot of physical play and trash-talking which further brewed animosity between the two teams, culminating in Roger Pogoy being decked by Kickert with an elbow that practically ignited the whole melee at the 4:01 mark of the third period.
As I sat down in the media room of the Philippine Arena moments after the incident, I could not help but feel disappointed with what happened, simply because I believe it was something that could have been avoided had those concerned exercise better judgment as far as the action they would take.
Gilas, while I understand the pride that runs through it and the brotherhood it has, should have known better than running after the Australians like crazy after the Pogoy incident, especially those who left the bench which only furthered the flame.
The team could have taken a stand against it without necessarily resorting to what was akin to a mass brawl.
The Australians, too, had their fault.
Kickert played well in said game but he had no business roughing up their Filipino hosts no end.
His antics during warm-ups and the blow he threw at Pogoy were uncalled for. They might have been a form of psych war from his and the team’s part but just the same these only opened the game to violence as what eventually happened.
The Boomers could have eased up as well since the game was pretty much under wraps as early as midway of the third canto.
Talking trash, while part of the game, could have been done without at that point of the match for the 31-point advantage, 79-48, Australia had was already more than enough statement.
But yet the verbal back-and-forth continued and it just did not help.
Then there were the officials, both local and FIBA as well as the referees, who could have handled the situation better.
They should have recognized the physical and emotionally charged atmosphere that the game took much earlier and could have extinguished it by talking to both teams to temper the heat.
Security, particularly concerning separation of the “fighting” teams, also left much to be desired, leaving the free-for-all to cascade.
What happened at the Philippine Arena on Monday was truly a black eye for the sport of basketball. It was very lamentable and I just hope nothing of such kind happens in the tournament moving forward.
Let the penalties be meted to those who deserve them and may the basketball community learn from this.
 
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
msmurillo@www.bworldonline.com