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HOW IT STARTED? Brawl between Gilas Pilipinas-Australia Boomers

What was supposed to be normal yet crucial night for Gilas Pilipinas and Australia Boomers, turned out to be a game that would go down as one of the most shocking games in recent basketball history.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers game between the two teams became physical during the third quarter of the game when a brawl broke out between the opposing players resulting in the disqualification of 9 Gilas players and 4 Boomers, and a loss for the Gilas Pilipinas, 89-53.

How it started?

The mood at Philippine Arena was intense as Gilas Pilipinas and Australia Boomers face each other with both teams coming in as strong contenders for the Asian qualifiers.

The game became neck and neck during the first quarter and the first few minutes of the second quarter with the Gilas only trailing by a single three-point shot.

The game, however, became one-sided when the expected more dominant team Boomers pulled away through a series of unanswered 9-point run giving them the lead 32-20, which ballooned to 52-37 by halftime.

Seeking for a comeback in the third, intensity was high for both Gilas Pilipinas and the Boomers.

In one of the plays during the 4:01 mark of the third, as Gilas center June Mar Fajardo pushes to go near the basket, RR Pogoy shoved Australia’s Christopher Goulding, who fell to the ground.

Goulding’s teammate Daniel Kickert decked Pogoy. Pogoy’s teammate Jason Castro, then landed a punch on Kickert.

The series of physical exchanges only sparked a bigger brawl with other Gilas players Andray Blatche, Calvin Abueva, Terrence Romeo, Carl Bryan Cruz, and Matthew Wright also seen throwing punches against their Australian parallels, who also threw punches and kicks against the Gilas players.

Players on the sidelines of Gilas were also involved in the brawl as video review showed Allein Maliksi unloading blows against Goulding.

Gilas fans were also seen throwing bottles at the Australian team’s bench.

The aftermath of the brawl

After a long 30-minute break as officials reviewed clips to impose appropriate punishments for the players involved, officials slapped nine Gilas players – Pogoy, Castro, Blatche, Abueva, Romeo, Cruz, Wright, Troy Rosario and Japeth Aguilar – disqualifying fouls, removing them from the game.

Four Boomers – Goulding, Kickert, Nathan Sobey, and Thon Maker – were also removed from the game.

The game continued, however, with nine players out, Gilas was left with three players – Fajardo, Gabe Norwood and Baser Amer -to face the leading Boomers. Fajardo and Norwood were later on fouled out with more than a minute still left in the third. The game ended 89-53 win by default for the Boomers to top Group B, 5-1, while Gilas falls to second spot, 4-2.

The aftergame

Gilas coach Chot Reyes explained that Goulding was the one who instigated the brawl.

In an interview with Sports 5, Reyes said Kickert has been pushing Gilas players during warm-ups before the game started.

“Well it’s unfortunate, we didn’t want it to happen. It’s absolutely unacceptable,” Reyes said. “But the reality is that Kickert was hitting our players during the warm-ups. He hit Carl Bryan Cruz, he hit Matthew Wright, [Roger] Pogoy and he hit Calvin Abueva.”

“So when [Kickert] did that, the foul of Pogoy on [Christopher] Goulding was an offensive foul, it was a basketball play, but he was the one who came in and decked Pogoy. You don’t expect to do it to a team five times and not expect [the team] to retaliate,” Reyes said despite ackowledging that Gilas players should have remained focused in the game.

Reyes said only the players themselves knew what really happened inside the court.

“I understand the disappointment, I understand that some are embarrassed, but you don’t know what happened. You have to be in the team, you have to be in our circle to really understand what went down,” he said.

FIBA has also announced that both teams will be investigated and results will be communicated afterwards.


Reyes said Gilas is ready to face the sanctions to be imposed against their players.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive of Basketball Australia, Anthony Moore, has also expressed, through a statement, his “disappointment” over what went down.

“This is not the spirit in which sport should be played and certainly not in the spirit in which we aim to play basketball,” said Moore.

“We apologize to our fans and will await the penalties to be handed down.”


The Australian team has reportedly left the country earlier than their expected departure to ensure the safety of their players.

NOTE: Photo featured in the article was taken from Spin.ph

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