The tinderbox that exploded into basketbrawl

A tinderbox was created the day before Australia’s World Cup qualification basketball match against the Philippines

A Philippines team official punches Boomer Nathan Sobey during the brawl

A tinderbox was created the day before Australia’s World Cup qualification basketball match against the Philippines when Boomers officials peeled large advertising stickers off the court in what the hosts perceived as a disrespectful act towards their nation.

A day later, Philippines players, officials and fans assaulted the Boomers’ Nathan Sobey and Chris Goulding so violently at the Bulacan venue that criminal charges were expected to be laid.

The brawl generated worldwide headlines and drew comparisons in the US to the NBA’s Malice at the Palace between the Pacers and Pistons in 2004.

The Boomers were forced to change hotels because they feared for their safety before departing The Philippines yesterday on the earliest available flights. Most were due home early this morning. Australia’s NBA star Thon Maker apologised for kicking out at opposition players in what resembled a street fight in professional sport.

“I am deeply disappointed in the actions displayed during yesterday’s game against The Philippines,” Maker said. “Being from a war-torn country, basketball for me has always been a means to bring people together. I feel a great responsibility as an NBA player to carry myself in a way that promotes peace and unity.

“I take responsibility for my actions knowing that they were a result of my desire to protect my teammates and myself.”

In the most harrowing scene, Goulding was chased off the court, fell to the floor and disappeared from view while locals set on him with fists, feet and elbows. Boomers’ assistant coach Luc Longley ran to his assistance after about 20 seconds of punishment.

Goulding’s agent, Daniel Moldovan, wrote on Twitter: “Horrific vision … Luc Longley might have just saved Chris Goulding’s life. The (Philippines) assistant coach grabs a chair and pummels it down on his head while multiple cowards stomp on him. This is very hard to watch.”

A man who threw a chair at Sobey was revealed to be the father of one of the Filipino players. Moments later, Sobey was punched in the head.

Not all of the Boomers were innocent victims. Daniel Kickert was guilty of a horrific elbow to the face of an opponent and risked a long suspension from FIBA.

The backstory is this. The day before the game, Boomers’ management made the error of removing on-court advertising stickers without permission from The Philippines’ governing body or FIBA. Australian players had complained about the so-called decals being slippery and dangerous.

The act was captured on video by FIBA board member and Philippines’ basketball federation chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, who posted the clip on Twitter and wrote: “Aussie team ripping our/Fiba logos on the court of Phil Arena w/o asking permission. We will not back down. Those stickers go in. Regardless.”

Philippines coach Chot Reyes wrote: “They had no right to just rip the decals and deface OUR floor. There were SBP/FIBA officials in venue. #basicdecency.”

A statement from the Philippines association “acknowledged the right of the visiting team to complain … but not the right to remove anything as all the stickering of the floor has been approved by FIBA. The owners and operators of the Philippine Arena could possibly file a criminal action of malicious damage to property.”

With their comments over the advertising, Pangilinan and Reyes whipped up anti-Boomers sentiment among their players and the 20,000-strong crowd at the venue.

“There was absolutely an incident,” Basketball Australia CEO Anthony Moore said yesterday. “We had a team shoot-around the day before. We trained and had numerous players fall, and fall heavily. Our team management undertook a course of action that we absolutely apologised to Philippines basketball for. We ripped the decals up. That wasn’t the smartest move we’ve made.

“If we didn’t have the game incident, we’d be having a conversation with FIBA about that particular process.

“There’s no doubt that heightened the issue. But that was more from national federation to national federation as opposed to the players.”

Reyes said post-match that Kickert had been striking Philippines players before the warm-up.

However, video has since emerged showing Kickert being tripped by a Philippines player in the warm-up. He pushed back in response and both teams came together.

Audio also merged of Philippines assistant coach, Jong Uichico, telling his players during a time-out: “Hit somebody. Put somebody on his arse.” When Reyes was heckled on Twitter yesterday, he replied to one critic, “Care to say that to my face?”

Moore rejected the claims about Kickert’s pre-match behaviour. “We saw the Filipino coach’s comments in relation to incidents in the warm-up,” Moore said. “We absolutely refute that.”

But he did say Kickert’s elbow was a shocker.

“It’s a challenging one to defend because it was an unsavoury act,” Moore said. “Unfortunately, it’s professional sport and sometimes these things happen. But when it spills off the court and gets spectators involved as well as match officials, that’s what is most concerning to us. We had players, officials and coaches in fear of their physical safety.

“We’ve got Luc Longley taking up a position of an Australian Wallaby clearing a maul to get a significant number of people off Goulding. It was absolutely alarming to see a congregation of players at the end of the court and saying, ‘is one of our guys actually under there?’ One of our players was surrounded by about 20 people with a significant number of physical altercations occurring.”

Australia led 79-48 in the match when a pair of fouls, one from Philippines player Roger Pogoy on Goulding, was followed by the retaliation from Kickert which prompted the madness.

A total of 13 players were ejected, nine from The Philippines along with Australians Goulding, Kickert, Maker and Sobey, before a farcical third-quarter finish because the hosts had only one player left. The Boomers won 89-53.