Gilas faces sanction for involvement in 'Thrilla at the Arena'

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas and Australia face possible sanctions from the International Basketball Federation after turning their FIBA World Cup qualifier matchup to “Thrilla at the Arena” Monday in Bocaue, Bulacan.

FIBA has announced it “will open disciplinary proceedings against both teams” after the sad incident that abbreviated the match won by Australia at 89-53.

“The decision will be communicated in the coming days,” FIBA said on the heels of the worst fracas seen in years involving national teams.

Nine Gilas players in RR Pogoy, Andray Blatche, Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario, Carl Bryan Cruz, Jason Castro, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo and Matthew Wright were tossed out of the game along with Aussies Daniel Kickert, James Goulding, Nathay Sobey and Thon Maker after order was restored.

Gilas and Team Australia are now both awaiting the FIBA decision while looking forward to the second round of the 2019WC qualifiers where they face Iran, Kazakhstan and Qatar.

“It’s up to FIBA in the end. We need to face those consequences. It is what it is,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes even as he insisted Kickert triggered the brawl and that Gilas players just didn’t back down from the fight.

Basketball Australia issued apologies to their fans shortly after the riot.

"Basketball Australia deeply regrets the incident. We are extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it. This is not the spirit in which sport should be played and certainly not in the spirit in which we aim to play basketball. We apologize to our fans and will await the penalties to be handed down,” said Basketball Australia chief executive Anthony Moore in a statement.

“It’s unfortunate. We didn’t want that to happen. It’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Reyes of the incident that caused a great divide among Filipino basketball fans.

As of posting time, social media was still flooded with hot discussions between those embarrassed by the fracas and those solid behind the Gilas players’ stand in the fight.

“But the reality was Kickert hitting our players from the warm-up. He hit Cruz, he hit Wright, he hit Pogoy and he hit Abueva during the warm-ups. The foul of Pogoy on (James) Goulding was called a foul, an offensive foul. But (Kickert) was the one who came in and decked Pogoy for the fifth time. You can’t expect to do that to a team and don’t expect them to retaliate,” said Reyes.

The Australian cage official, however, emphatically refuted claims that there were incidents in the warm-up, but apologized to the Philippines for ripping up a “slippery” on-court advertising sticker before the game that added to tensions.

“I know a lot of Filipinos, especially a lot of PBA players, they’re pissed. You don’t know what happened, they don’t know what went wrong,” said Reyes.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas had yet to issue official statement as of posting time.

Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial has invited all Gilas members from the pro league, PBA chairman Ricky Vargas and SBP president Al Panlilio to a closed-door meeting in the PBA office in Quezon City Thursday.

“First, we want to know what went wrong,” said Marcial, also wary of a FIBA suspension for more PBA players after Kiefer Ravena.

With their passage to the next round, the Nationals are now slated to next play Iran on September 13, Qatar on September 17, Kazakhstan on November 30, Iran on December 3, Qatar on February 21 and Kazakhstan on February 24.

Gilas is now in Group F, carrying over a 4-2 mark as against Australia’s 5-1, Iran’s 5-1, Kazakhstan’s 3-3, Japan’s 2-2 and Qatar’s 2-2. The top three in this bracket automatically make the China WC2019.

Jordan, Lebanon and New Zealand pace Group E at 5-1, followed by Korea (4-2), China (3-3) and Syria (2-4).