THE basketball federations of Australia and the Philippines have issued a joint apology for Monday’s disturbing brawl but it is unlikely to soften the penalties that will be handed down by FIBA.
Players from Australia and the Philippines are facing long bans over their involvement in the free-for-all.
The Filipino players and officials are set to bear the brunt of the penalties but Australian players Daniel Kickert and Thon Maker also face nervous waits. Basketball’s governing body FIBA is in the process of investigating the incident.
Basketball Australia president Ned Coten and Gilas Pilipinas president Alfredo S. Panlilio said they deeply regretted the events that took place.
They said basketball had a unique power to unite, and the two nations would aim to display the “true spirit of friendship and sportsmanship” in future games.
“The actions displayed [on Monday] have no place on any basketball court,” the joint statement between Coten and Panlilio said. “We wish to apologize to the entire basketball community worldwide – and in particular to our fantastic fans in the Philippines and Australia – for the behavior displayed by both teams and for bringing the game of basketball into disrepute.
“We fully accept our responsibility and are collaborating in the ongoing proceedings to investigate the incidents. We will do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again.”
Chris Goulding has said he just tried to protect his head for what felt like a “hell of a long time” as Philippines’ players and officials swarmed over him during the incident.
The Boomers sharpshooter spoke publicly about his ordeal for the first time on Thursday and revealed he had been concerned by worry for his family caused by the ugly incident during Australia’s 89-53 win over the Philippines in Bulacan.
Goulding said he was “very thankful” to giant Australian assistant coach Luc Longley, who came to his rescue as he was attacked while lying on the floor behind one end of the court.
His problems began when he was fly-kicked in the back by a Philippines player, who came from the bench as the brawl erupted after Kickert retaliated with a forearm to a brutal off-the-ball foul on Goulding.
“He kicked me down under the ring and that’s when I was set upon,” Goulding told SEN radio. “It wasn’t like I knew exactly what was happening, it happened from behind. I was on the ground and 10 to 15 people were on top of me with chairs and everything you can imagine.
“At that point in time, I wasn’t thinking I might lose my life, it was just literally protect the head and just wait it out.”
Goulding said fellow guard Nathan Sobey had been coming to his aid when he took a chair in the back of the head and a punch in the face.
“Sobey saw me down there, he knew what was going on and he tried to come and help and he had a chair thrown at him and then he was coward punched. It’s just something you never think you would experience. It felt like a hell of a long time.”
Goulding also gave credit to the Australian bench players, who have received criticism for not rushing to aid their outnumbered teammates when the Philippines bench cleared, though some had to be restrained.
“In the end that discipline that we showed as a team is what won us the game. If we ran off the bench everyone would have been disqualified.” (Australian Associated Press)
