As the blame game continues, various evidences have circulated online that could possibly direct to the root cause of the infamous Gilas-Boomers brawl
Photo by Tristan Tamayo
There were a couple of incidents that could have sparked the Gilas and Boomers brawl. Here are some of the most sensible on and off-court events that might have triggered the unfortunate incident:
The pre-game warm-Up
In the 28-second video released by Fox Sports Australia, Gilas forward Calvin Abueva appears to be trying to trip Australian Daniel Kickert during the warm-up. In return, Kickert turned and aggressively shoved Matthew Wright.
But Gilas head coach Chot Reyes shared a different sentiment. Reyes said it was Kickert who started it by “hitting” several Gilas players as they loosened up. Among those pushed by the Aussie were Abueva, Wright, RR Pogoy, and Carl Bryan Cruz.
Out of the four Gilas players whom Reyes claimed Kickert hit, an ESPN5 footage reveals that Kickert aggressively shoved Wright.
However, in the video posted by Fox Sports Australia, it seems that Kickert’s push on Wright was in retaliation to Abueva extending his leg to trip the 6’8” Boomer. Kickert mistakenly thought it was Wright who tried to trip him.
The ripping of floor stickers
This may be a shallow reason to start a fight, but the Australian basketball team’s decision to remove the sponsored floor decals in the Philippine Arena could have heightened the heat between the two teams.
The day before the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier took place, Australian officials ripped off the floor decals and stickers themselves without seeking consent from any of the country’s officials.
Manny V. Pangilinan, Gilas Pilipinas’ main sponsor, expressed his resentment on Twitter.
After the incident, Basketball Australia CEO Anthony Moore owned up to their actions and issued an apology.
‘Hit somebody!’
An Australian news agency reported that Boomers head coach Luc Longley believes Reyes was the one who gave orders on engaging in a fist fight.
“I do believe their coach, Chot Reyes, incited them to come out and thug us. I think there’s video evidence of that,” Longley said in a report.
In the video, Reyes appears to be frustratingly saying “Hit somebody. Put somebody in his ass,” in the last timeout before the appalling pile-on occurred.
In his defense, Reyes said the whole situation was taken out of context. According to the Gilas coach, he wasn’t literally ordering his players to hurt someone physically—“hit someone” and “put somebody in his ass” was a basketball parlance for Reyes, which means “foul early” or “don’t give a lay-up,” and he has actually used it from time to time.
NLEX archer and former Gilas player Larry Fonacier also backed Reyes who was his mentor for a long time during his days at TNT Tropang Texters and Gilas Pilipinas.