Australians allegedly called Philippines players ‘monkeys’ before basketball brawl
As Basketball Australia (BA) officials prepare to deliver their submission to the world governing body regarding the Australian Boomers' role in a brawl at last Monday's World Cup qualifier in the Philippines, the ABC has been told racist taunts may have contributed to the physical boilover.
An accredited photojournalist who was covering the match between hosts, the Philippines, and the Australian Boomers told Saturday Grandstand he heard the abuse although could not say which player, or players, were responsible.
"I think I should mention when the Boomers were up by 30 points there was still a lot of what I would say was taunting, a lot of mouthing, there were a lot of words being said."
External Link: Winston Baltasar tweet: Not a photo I'm proud of. Just so sad the fight happened.
Winston Baltasar is a well-known sports photographer in the Philippines and is a recognised basketball specialist.
He said he was not sure who made the racist comment but he was sure of what he heard.
"We did hear the word 'monkey' being thrown around," he said.
When asked whether Australian players used it, he said, "yes".
He was pressed further.
"Do you know that for sure?"
"Yes."
"Did you hear that yourself?"
"I couldn't hear exactly who said it, but I did hear it, and like I said when the Boomers were up by 30 points I don't think words like that should be thrown around."
'He looked really badly hurt': Photojournalist recalls the brawl
Before the brawl erupted, Philippines player Roger Ray Pogoy was given a foul for pushing Goulding, who fell backwards onto the court.
Fellow Boomer, Daniel Kickert, ran in and elbowed Pogoy in the head.
Goulding found himself at the bottom of a scrum of opposition players and others in what he alleges were "10 to 15 guys … on top of me with chairs".
Baltasar was photographing the incident from less than a metre away.
"I didn't see 15 people, it was a melee, I saw Goulding on the floor, I saw a player on top of him, I saw some people trying to punch him or kick him," he said.
External Link: Troy Rike comments on incident
"I don't know how hard it was though because I saw him walking around afterwards and he didn't seem to be much hurt.
"[Nathan] Sobey however, who had a chair thrown at him, his face was bruised and he looked really badly hurt."
One of the players standing over Goulding was rookie Philippines player Troy Rike.
"He didn't play but he ran to the melee with Goulding on the ground and I was there, I was less than three feet away from him and I was taking photos of him over Goulding," Baltasar said.
"At first I thought he might be trying to kick but no, he had his left foot and his right foot to the left and right of Goulding protecting him with his arms outstretched … that guy was heroic."
While Goulding suggested in a radio interview this week that Australian officials might need to re-consider plans around qualifying through the Asian region, Rike was being presented with a $5,000 cheque for his sportsmanlike behaviour in protecting an opposition player.
Rike said he would split the money and donate to two charities — one in his home country, one in Australia.
Philippines and Australian teams 'on the way to healing'
Meanwhile, the national associations from both countries, the PBA and BA, issued a joint apology suggesting the "actions displayed have no place on any basketball court" and have accepted responsibility while promising "to do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again".
Baltasar said the apology goes a long way towards starting the healing process.
"All of the Philippine players have come out with apologies on their Instagram accounts, I do believe the Australians have done something similar, so we are on the way to healing," he said.
"We all want this over and done with so we can play the beautiful game of basketball, or we can watch it, without having all these bad memories."
Former basketball referee, Phil Wishart, told Grandstand the referees should also share some of the responsibility for what happened.
"As a referee on court, especially at international level, you are there to protect the sanctity of the game and you should have good feel for the game," he said.
"The referees probably just didn't maintain that control.
"Once the melee had occurred there was really nothing they could do — there were too many involved, I think the security did a really good job to try and mitigate that situation because the referees at that stage had no chance of bringing it back to the court."
Wishart said calls for the 2023 FIBA World Cup to be stripped from the Philippines, as some have suggested, would be "a step too far".
FIBA is expected to hand down its findings midweek.
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