Australia vs Philippines basketball brawl: Charges must be laid after disgraceful scene

If this happened in any other workplace, charges would be laid. And that’s exactly what Philippines police should do.

Just suppose two groups of men are going about their business when one of them, for no apparent reason, floors another with an elbow to the head. Another retaliates and within seconds a couple of dozen men are drawn into a ridiculous melee of punches, kicks, elbows and flying chairs.

Police would be called, right? Arrests would be made, charges laid. Police would pore over CCTV footage of the incident and draw up a long list of suspects to be prosecuted.

And that is exactly what the police in Bulacan, in The Philippines, should be doing after the disgraceful brawl that wrecked a Basketball World Cup qualifying match involving the Boomers last night.

Boomers’ shameful basketbrawl

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Filipino guard Roger Pogoy started it all, downing Australia’s Chris Goulding with a vicious elbow to the face. Boomer Daniel Kickett then overreacted with his own elbow. What followed were scenes that would put Hollywood’s version of a western bar-room brawl to shame.

Filipinos Jayson Castro and Andray Blatche charged in fists blazing. At one stage, Goulding was on the floor being kicked and punched. Daniel Sobey was punched in the face by someone who appeared to be a Philippines team official. Boomer Thon Maker, apparently in an attempt to protect his teammate, let fly with a series of kicks. Sobey was hit by a chair thrown by lord knows who.

The Philippines bench was emptied as the entire team, officials and fans joined in. Those on the Boomers bench, notably, held back.

Maker, Kickert, Sobey and Goulding were ejected, along with nine Filipino players.

What a disgrace! Phillipines should be expelled from basketball. Safety concerns for Australian side. #basketball #fiba #boomers pic.twitter.com/QoC8ujiP4h

— Brent Dawkins (@DawkinsBrent) July 2, 2018

No one comes out of this farce looking good. Basketball, which had been enjoying a resurgence in Australia with good-news stories such as Andrew Bogut signing with the Sydney Kings, has suffered a black eye — if you’ll excuse the pun. It’s a shocking look for the game, a dreadful example to young players and an absolute turn-off to most fans.

The only way to recover some ground is for strong penalties, which reflect the seriousness of this incident, to be handed out.

And then after the wild brawl ... 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ https://t.co/HNXWjJShzx

— FOX SPORTS Australia (@FOXSportsAUS) July 2, 2018

Despite the protestations of Philippines coach Chot Reyes, who claims the Australians started it all, the Filipinos were clearly the aggressors and their entire team was involved in the violence. They should be eliminated from World Cup qualifying.

And although the Boomers appear mostly to have been the victims, a couple of them behaved like schoolyard brawlers. They should be stood down from the Australian team.

And then there are the Bulacan police officers, who should right now be looking at the same footage the rest of us have seen and making plans.