MONDAY’S Gilas Pilipinas vs. Australia Boomers Fiba-Asia tussle hosted by the Philippines is the talk in social media in the Philippines and globally because of the brawl that erupted and how it ended. It is not often that players go after each other instead of the ball, more so in an international tournament. That’s why the game and its fallout is attracting attention.
I have been following basketball since I was a kid, coming as I am from a family whose late father loved sports as much as politics. I know that before the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) there was the MICAA and outside of it those inter-school tournaments like the CAAA (referred to as C triple A) and the national collegiate jousts.
I rarely see basketball games live because I didn’t have money to buy tickets but on the occasion that I went to the arena, I did collect one or two memorable incidents related to violence inside the basketball court and outside of it. There was, for example, that “basket-brawl” between the Southwestern University Cobras and the La Salle Green Archers. Then there was “Kaliwats.”
I could not remember the specifics of the Cobras-Green Archers game; rather, what got stuck in my mind was that free-for-all. I could not even remember the players. But I saw that when it got heated they went after each other. Plastic chairs flew. Frankly, I could not recall now how that game ended.
“Kaliwats” was the former boxer who got exploited by his promoter and ended up losing his mind. We knew him because he was a fixture in our campus, carrying clippings of his matches abroad and talking about his exploits. In one basketball game at the Aznar Coliseum, he tried forcing his way inside and briefly traded blows with a blue guard.
After the game, when he lingered near the coliseum, the guards shot him dead. I remember running all the way to Aznar Road when the shots were fired. I then went to his wake at the old St. Vincent chapel, which was not far from our school. he was already in repose, his face made up by the embalmer.
But back to that Gilas-Boomers brawl. The reactions actually followed two lines, one condemning the Gilas players for not restraining themselves and the other supporting what they did. We are now getting a clearer picture of what happened: the Australians did provoke the Pinoys, engaging them in trash talk and physical play even during the warmups.
Nine Gilas players and four Boomers who figured prominently in the brawl were ejected, which meant that only three Gilas players remained to close the game. The spectacle ended when the remaining Gilas players fouled themselves out. More penalties are expected to be meted out by Fiba Asia in the coming days.
I won’t condemn our players for what they did. I agree with what Glas’s Terrence Romeo posted on social media, that those who condemned them didn’t know what actually happened on the basketball court. In the end, the line from the Kenny Roger’s song “Coward of the County” played in my mind:
“I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you’ve done/ I walk away from trouble when I can/ Now please don’t think I’m weak I didn’t turn the other cheek/ Papa, I should hope you understand/ Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man.”