St. Benilde a victim, too

The NCAA Management Committee (Mancom), headed by Ding Lozano of host Mapua, has decided to strip San Beda College of its 74-51 win over College of St. Benilde in a senior men’s basketball game held last Friday. The reason was Lions center Sam Ekwe wore the wrong uniform.

St. Benilde filed a protest on the basis of Ekwe’s violation, which under NCAA rules, is a mortal sin. The NCAA upheld the protest and awarded the win instead to the Blazers who were badly beaten on the court.

St. Benilde assistant coach Richard del Rosario said yesterday the intent in filing the protest was not to reverse the outcome and in fact, the school wouldn’t have appealed if the Mancom ruled no forfeiture.

“There was no mention of forfeiture in the letter of protest,” said del Rosario. “We don’t make the rules. We just abide by them. All we wanted to point out was the need to be consistent in implementing the rules.”

Del Rosario admitted that it wasn’t until the second half that he noticed Ekwe’s uniform was different from what his teammates wore. Ekwe’s jersey was reportedly stolen and it was replaced with a nearly identical uniform from last season.

After the game, Blazers skipper Jacob Manlapaz signed the protest form and NCAA commissioner Joe Lipa later sent San Beda a letter of infraction.

Del Rosario said the protest wasn’t an attempt to turn a loss on the court into a win in the boardroom.

“We don’t believe in winning at all costs,” said del Rosario, a former La Salle and PBA cager known for his work ethic, discipline and fair play. “But we felt we had to file a protest because there was a clear violation of a rule.”

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If there’s a school familiar with the rule on uniforms in the NCAA, it’s St. Benilde.

“We’ve been victimized by the same rule,” continued del Rosario. “In chess, one of our players wore the wrong uniform and our win was forfeited and we were even fined P3,000. In table tennis, something similar happened and our win was also forfeited. In tennis, one of our players took off his uniform - which had become sweaty - during a match and used a shirt of a slightly different shade, resulting in forfeiture.”

Del Rosario said even the school’s cheerleaders haven’t been spared.

“One of our cheerleaders in the pep squad was suspended by the NCAA for wearing a uniform that had his name in front instead of in the back,” said del Rosario. “Worse, the entire pep squad was suspended when at the end of their routine, they took off their jackets and the T-shirts inside showed no names in the back.”

Before the Mancom decision was announced, del Rosario said the team got together for a meeting presided by head coach Gee Abanilla.

“We told the guys that if we win the protest, we should not treat it as a victory because our intention of filing it was not to get the win but to uphold the rules of the NCAA,” said del Rosario. “This should serve as a motivation for us to work harder and play to our potential so that we can show everyone that we can win on the court. We acknowledge that San Beda was the better team that day. We have a young team composed of nine rookies and six holdovers. Hopefully, as we continue to rebuild the team and try to improve, we could give a powerhouse team like San Beda a better challenge the next time we play them.”

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Last Wednesday, the NCAA Management Committee met at the Aloha Hotel to take up St. Benilde’s protest.

Henry Atayde, St. Benilde representative, said the morning of the day the Blazers lost to the Lions, a La Salle junior player was benched for bringing the wrong uniform and wasn’t allowed to check in until the right jersey arrived. The game was against the San Beda Cubs.

“The gist of our protest letter was to request the Mancom to be consistent with its decisions and to uphold the rules,” said Atayde. “It was never our intention to file a protest to take advantage of the situation and win at all costs. No doubt, San Beda is a strong team and has dominated us but rules are rules. They were created to be followed and not treated as suggestions.”

Atayde said during the meeting, he declared that St. Benilde would not accept the victory if the NCAA ruled a forfeiture. However, the NCAA later decided to penalize San Beda with a loss and awarded the win to St. Benilde.

In relation to his incident, FEU’s Anton Montinola sent this interesting text message: “UP chose not to protest Ateneo for the same issue (uniforms worn by Burke and Long were different from their teammates). Regarding the FEU-La Salle game, the referee admitted to two wrong technical fouls and one non-call in the last two minutes. But FEU did not protest so no replay.”

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The penalty for using the wrong uniform should be commensurate to the nature and severity of the infraction. Surely, it does not merit a forfeiture of a win. The spirit - more than just the letter - of the law must be considered in meting out the penalty for a violation.

In the NBA, Michael Jordan wore No. 12 with no name in the back after his jersey was stolen when he played for Chicago against Orlando during the 1990-91 season. He scored 49 points and the Magic didn’t protest. There have been many other incidents in sports where players used the wrong outfits and no protest was filed despite the rule on uniforms.

St. Benilde blew a golden opportunity to rise above the level of petty bickering. It could’ve chosen not to protest and done what UP and FEU did. It could’ve pointed out Ekwe’s infraction to the public and the NCAA without sounding like sourgraping. It could’ve set an example of noble leadership in a league, which could certainly use a boost in status.