The World Basketball Federation announced that 13 players, two coaches and the officiating crew have been suspended, due to their participation in the brawl.
The fight, which took place on July 2nd, during the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers game between Philippines and Australia at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, turned into a violent brawl and things quickly got out of control.
As a result, 13 players were disqualified and the game stopped, after Philippines left with just one player.
Concerning the sanctions, 10 Philippines’ players (Japeth Aguilar, Matthew Wright, Terence Romeo, Jayson Castro William, Andray Blatche, Jeth Rosario, Roger Pogoy, Carl Cruz, Jio Jalalon and Calvin Abueva) were suspended and they will miss from one to six games.
Similarly, head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes was suspended for one game and will also pay a disciplinary fine of CHF 10.000, with assistant coach Joseph Uichico being suspended for three games.
At the same time, FIBA imposed a disciplinary fine of CHF 250.000 to the Philippines’ national federation, while the team will play the next home game behind close doors, as a ban for two more home games has been placed under a probationary period of three years.
Regarding Australia, Chris Goulding (one game), Thon Maker (three games) and Daniel Kickert (five games) have been suspended, while FIBA imposed a disciplinary fine of CHF 100.000 to Australia’s national federation.
Last but not least, the referees of the game were suspended for one year and will not be nominated to any international competitions organised or recognised by FIBA.
It’s worth mentioning that all the money from the fines will be used to support the “Basketball for Good” social programme, which has been launched by the International Basketball Federation.
