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    SBP suffers blackeye from melee

    SBP is the biggest loser after brawl mars Gilas-Australia game, writes columnist Ding Marcelo
    Jul 4, 2018
    benchwarmer

    RELATIONS between FIBA and the Philippines may be the biggest casualty in the brawl that erupted between the Australian and Philippine basketball teams last Monday during their World Cup qualifier at the Philippine Arena.

    This was a relationship nurtured painstakingly and, if we’re being frank, expensively. Those many trips to Switzerland, Japan, HK for face-to-face meetings with FIBA top brass can’t be cheap. But over many years, top SBP officials, led by Manny Pangilinan, kept at it, cementing ties with leaders of the top basketball body. Now that relationship may have been irreparably damaged by the incident.

    Pangilinan and his crew began nearly two decades ago. That was when they first pleaded with the FIBA to recognize the newly formed Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. After going through rigorous debate and investigation, Pangilinan eventually convinced the powerful international body to trust him and to recognize his fledgling basketball federation. Pangilinan then went on to fulfill his part of the bargain by almost singlehandedly bringing respectability back to Philippine basketball in Asia.

    FIBA bigwigs were so impressed that they soon made Pangilinan a member of their powerful Central Board. Along the way, the Philippines earned the right to co-host the FIBA World Cup in 2023 (with Japan and Indonesia) and the FIBA Asia Championship.

    But after Monday’s melee, all that goodwill may have gone down the drain. Looming ahead are possible suspensions for the nine Gilas Pilipinas players who were ejected after the dust had settled. If this happens, the country’s preparations for the next stage of the World Cup qualifier will be back to square one.

    The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which oversees the country’s international participation, may escape the ban, but FIBA is expected to reassess its relationship with the SBP. The brawl, after all, created a sensation on social media and was called “one of the crazier scenes in recent basketball history” by no less than the New York Times. Other big international newspapers were just as aghast at the sight of punches, wild kicks, and a folding chair flying in the air.

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      Reports indicated that the Australian players feared for their lives as they navigated their way to the hotel and to the airport. Many Filipino players — as well as Aussies — later took to Twitter and Facebook to express remorse for participating in the melee. But there were Filipinos who refused to concede anything, putting all the blame on the other side. And some Filipinos actually said they would not hesitate to jump into the fray again to protect a teammate.

      Well, FIBA is very likely to look at SBP’s failure to discipline its ranks. This may result in a reprimand, in itself a blow to Pangilinan’s and SBP’s reputations. In a real way, SBP officials — particularly the coaching staff — have to take some blame for the brawl. Tensions had already risen fever pitch even before the game started, with claims from both sides that provocative moves had been engineered to get into the heads of their opponents. Australia provided a grainy video footage that, it said, showed Calvin Abueva tripping an Australian player. The Philippine side has countered that this was photo-shopped.

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      But coach Chot Reyes, instead of easing the tension by advising his players to cool it, did nothing and probably caused the situation to reach boiling point by telling them, during a timeout, “to hit somebody.”

      What is laughable is Reyes going on to justify this by saying he was telling his players “to foul early.” Really.

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