Malice at the Palace 2: Australia vs Philippines

[koberulz]

Australia just won its world cup qualifier in the Philippines by default after 9 Filipino players were ejected as the result of a bench-clearing brawl. The game continued 3 vs 5 with two Filipino players intentionally fouling out - and Australia deliberately bricking the resulting free-throws - to get the game called off.

Four Aussies were also ejected, including Milwaukee's Thon Maker.

phpBB [video]

The Philippines were classy during a lengthy referee review of the incident:


https://twitter.com/JohnCasey2880/status/1013771267630030848

https://twitter.com/rickm18/status/1013768593077440513

https://www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/aussie-boomers-vs-philippines-live-coverage-fiba-world-cup-asian-qualifiers/news-story/830fc9afc7d39ad5acc93bd05a3ed7ba

[Andrew]

Disgraceful scenes with coward punches all over the place. Not surprised to see Andray Blatche in the thick of things.

Opting to continue the game when it was 5v3 was an absolute farce. It shouldn't have come down to a foul out to forfeit situation. Should've been called off half an hour before that.

[koberulz]

Edited the OP to include a YouTube video of the incident.

[koberulz]

Disgraceful scenes with coward punches all over the place.

My favourite one is Romeo punching Maker in the back of the head and then immediately dashing to hide behind Sobey in the corner.

[Andrew]

Indeed. Cheap shot.

Of course, a lot of those punches reinforced the fact that these guys are basketball players, not boxers. In the aftermath of the chaos, I did enjoy Shane Heal's quip about players deserving bans for throwing such weak punches alone.

[koberulz]

[Andrew]

I see a lot of people saying Kickert started it, and he does share in some responsibility with that elbow he threw. However, it was the cheap foul on Goulding that really started things.

[koberulz]

I'm pretty happy saying Kicks started it and the Filipino bench emptying escalated it.

The foul on Goulding was worthy of the USF it got, but hardly anything worse.

[Lean]

Ugh, this is disgusting.

I see the Philippine team being banned from FIBA again. I kept on making points on social media that no one on the team should've retaliated, but so many fools were blinded by the false patriotism called "Pinoy Pride."

[Andrew]

I'm pretty happy saying Kicks started it and the Filipino bench emptying escalated it.

The foul on Goulding was worthy of the USF it got, but hardly anything worse.

Fair call.

A bad look for basketball at the end of the day.

[Lean]

Indeed. And it may lead to several players being banned from playing in FIBA.

Some of the Philippine team's coaching staff were reportedly involved in the scuffle as well.

[Andrew]

The people on the sidelines who got involved, were they just fans, or local pro players? That's when it really started getting ugly, when it wasn't just the players from each team.

I'm definitely expecting some harsh penalties to be handed out.

[koberulz]

The grey shirt punching Sobey in the image above was on the Philippines bench.

[Lean]

The one who hit Sobey is a member of the team who was not activated to play. I think that happened when Sobey got dropped with a chair on his head. I think Pogoy should have been benched after he was hit in the face first so that he could cool himself down, that incident would have been prevented.

I love how some of my former students respond to my comments saying that I should be shipped to Australia, and I shouldn't have been embarrassed about what happened.

[JuicyShaqMeat]

As a Filipino who's crazy in love with basketball, this is exactly why I can never follow the local scene.

[dare]

There are reports that Kickert started it during the warm ups, obviously both sides have different stories but the refs could have prevented this to happen. They failed to control this game.

[Stress Fracture]

There are reports that Kickert started it during the warm ups, obviously both sides have different stories but the refs could have prevented this to happen. They failed to control this game.

Racial slurs were also said by some of the Australians.

[Andrew]

I kept on making points on social media that no one on the team should've retaliated, but so many fools were blinded by the false patriotism called "Pinoy Pride."

I'm seeing a lot of comments on the Basketball Australia Facebook page that Australians should watch their backs, and should've been made to leave the arena in wheelchairs.

[Lean]

Not surprised with how Filipinos behaved on social media. When Jeff Horn beat Manny Pacquiao last year, Filipinos swarmed Horn's Facebook profile and sent him messages, calling him a cheater.

Again, both sides are at fault. It shouldn't have gotten worse.

[Andrew]

Indeed, it was an ugly scene. I still think it's ridiculous that the referees took that long to come to a decision, and that they tried to have them play 5v3. Even if there had been enough for 5v5, there's no way it could've continued with that kind of tension. Next hard foul would've erupted into more chaos.

[Lean]

...and here we go!

phpBB [video]

[shadowgrin]

Get rekd.
You don't go into a man's house and ruin it without permission like Australia did.



Not yet proven if there was indeed racial taunting by the Aussies during warm-ups so I won't even consider that for now.

The only thing that's true right now is the Australian team had the FIBA approved court decals removed for supposed safety reasons during their practice without permission from the host country or FIBA.

Philippine players took it as an insult. Can't blame them if they mistook someone destroying their homecourt as an insult.
The sponsor decal removed also happens to be a company owned by the team CEO/patron, and he's revered by the teams he sponsors, he's like the godfather of Philippine sports right now for funding most of it.

Australian team officials did apologize for removing the decals but only after the basketbrawl, still too late.


It was just an all around shitshow from everybody.

Australia destroying the decals with no permission or notice given, they might as well have spit on the center circle during a game for what they did.
Philippine players being idiots for that all out brawl.
Home organizers not providing enough security for the venue.
FIBA officials not having control of the game and allowing that farcical game to continue.



Can't wait for the findings of the FIBA investigstion so Lean can have that permanent Australian vacation.

[shadowgrin]

...and here we go!

That Ozzy Man review

I like how the Filipino players behaved well when Luc Longley was stopping the fight from happening in midcourt and the one behind the basket stand. Clearly the late 90s Bulls team is still popular with Filipinos.
That chair throw only happened because Longley's back was turned.

[Lean]

I finally get to meet up with Andrew when I get shipped.

[Stress Fracture]

Indeed, it was an ugly scene. I still think it's ridiculous that the referees took that long to come to a decision, and that they tried to have them play 5v3. Even if there had been enough for 5v5, there's no way it could've continued with that kind of tension. Next hard foul would've erupted into more chaos.

FIBA rules say that the game shall continue until only one player remains. Bizarre rule, to say the least.