Violence between Boomers and Philippines basketball teams

Sociology
Violence between Boomers and Philippines basketball teams (July 2018).
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Sociology
Introduction
Generally, sports are the basic features of Australian culture. Different findings indicate that the
achievement of sports in Australia has enhanced the entire image of the nation (Birzniece,2015.
P.56). Basically, participation in sporting activities in most of the times contributes to the health
of many people in Australia. All the terms and conditions attributed to teamwork and fair games
played by the Australians helps them in playing good games which forms the basis for the good
society. Despite playing good games Australia field of sports is characterized by a number of
shortcomings (Brackenridge, Kay & Rhind,2012 p.65).
The paper tries to explain an issue which occurred in Australian field showing how Australian
field of sports is affected by different shortcomings. Whilst, the sporting activities in Australia
tend to experience sporting violence. The degree of violence extends to both participants in the
games and also the spectators. The issue of sporting violence in Australia remains as an aspect of
concern. Reports show how violence in playing grounds brings an impression of bad example to
Australians and also to the entire world. Most of the times violence in sports in Australia starts
from unruly crowds which have bad behaviors that tend to spoil the image of the country in
terms of sports (Bragg, Roberto, Harris, Brownell & Elbel, 2018 p.134).
The issue of violence in games occurs in some matches whereby the major source of violence
starts from the participants who don't accept a defeat. The increasing rate of violence in Australia
has created awareness thus demanding the appropriate stakeholders to take control (Cameron,
Cochrane, Gordon & Livingston, 2016 p.189).The National Committee on the Violence knows
the importance of sports to the country and also to its citizen and that's why it has selected the
Brian Wenn of the Australian Sports Commission to control the aspect of violence in sports in
Australia. The Sports Committee believes that players and spectators can uphold integrity in

Sociology
fields but not being violent. On another hand, the government also knows the importance of
sports to the country and it has started handling all the cases related to violence in sports. The
entire discussion will include a clear description of a current issue related to sports in Australia,
how the organization has responded to the issue and also how relevant stakeholders in Australia
have reacted to the issue of violence in sports as evident in Australia (Casey, Harvey, Eime &
Payne, 2012 p.95).
Description of the issue
The issues selected for discussion is based on violence on playing fields. The issue is on how
Boomers and Philippines basketball match was erupted by violence in Australia. The wild brawl
has seen Australia's FIBA World Cup qualifying clash with the Philippines after the match was
abandoned when 13 players were removed from the field (Darcy, Lock & Taylor, 2017
p.123).During the game, tension raised four minutes remaining to end the match with all players
and the official from both teams and a number of unruly spectators who flooded in the pitch
causing a scene of violence in the stadium. During the game, the Boomers had a victory of 79-48
before the whole scene was flooded by kicks and rampant violence. The violence occurred
immediately when Philippines guard Roger Ray Pogoy had lashed out the Australians Chris with
an errant elbow within the court. This incidence raised chaos in the pitch as the referee did not
take any attempt to halt the match (Fasting, Chroni, Hervik & Knorre, 2011 p.34). There was no
foul was given to the Australian team thus causing the unruly fans to turn everything in the scene
of violence. The Boomer player Daniel Kickerts retaliation on the Pogoy sparked everything in
the court. After the incidence, the commentator for the match that is the Matt Russell was heard
describing the whole incidence as "sickening incidence” since it included elbows, punches, use
of objects and also kicks which were hurled to the players and other officials in the court.

Sociology
The reports indicate that the game was interrupted for more than 30 minutes as the referees were
seen assessing the situation and eventually the game was conducted in ridiculous fashion. Three
Philippines players returned to the match and they found themselves playing against the five
players from Australia team (Fleming, Gruskin, Rojo & Dworkin, 2015 p.38).
How key personnel approached the issue
After the incidence, the Basketball Australia on social media indicated that all players from the
Boomers team were safe and they were well and in good condition after the incident. Different
findings indicate that the rules and policies of a game that is international rules argue that games
should continue unless a team has only one player who is available in the pitch (Galtung &
Fischer, 2013 p.20).The Filipino player later fouled themselves and they were out of the game
which the official also described it as a call off before the third quarter in the league. There was a
number official who discussed the entire issue in Australia. Some of the stakeholders who argued
on the incidence were the Basketball chief executive known as the Anthony Moore. The official
sent short statement after the incidence which stated that "Basketball Australia deeply regrets the
incident in tonight's match between the Boomers and the Philippines in Manila. We are
extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it," Moore also argued that was not
the spirit for sports and it was not the spirit for playing basketball in Australia (García-Moreno et
al., 2015 p.23).The chief executive went on and apologized for that misconduct and apologized
on behalf of the fans and told the fans to await further penalties to be imposed by the
international charter for Basketball. Moore also reported that players were to return to the hotel
following morning to confirm whoever was injured during the incidence. In addition, he said that
the priority was to keep all players safe and the International Basketball Federation will respond

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as quickly as possible to offer the punishments to whoever was concerned with the violence
(Goldstein, 2012 p.175).
On another hand the public news continued to explain the issue whereby news in every channel
in Australia started by this statement, "Following the incident that occurred in the third quarter of
the Philippines-Australia game on Monday in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian
Qualifiers, FIBA will now open disciplinary proceedings against both teams," This was followed
by another comment which indicated that further "The decision(s) will be communicated in the
coming days. “The entire society and the whole country was in shock as the fans were waiting
for a big penalty since it was the most disgraceful incidence to have ever been experienced in
Australia (Grix & Carmichael,2012 p.221).
In addition, the chief executive for Basketball in Australia added that there were no signs prior to
the game showing any possibility of violence. Moore said there was "nothing prior to the game"
that would suggest ill-will between the teams. "It was a tough and physical encounter and our
games against the Philippines typically are," Moore said. "We played them in February as part of
the qualifying window "And we know that they're always competitive and physical games, but
there was nothing prior to this incident that you could say that it was a niggle here and a niggle
there." (Hanna, Kjellstrom, Bennett & Dear, 2011 p.32).
On another hand, the Filipino couch Chot Reyes defended his players for the involvement of the
bowl and said that the Australian player knowns as the Kickert was provoking some abusive
words to their opponents before the game started. The coach tried as much as possible to prove
how the Philippine team was innocent during this incidence. Reyes in his statements indicated
that "[The brawl] is absolutely unacceptable but the reality is Kickert was hitting our players
during the warm-ups," The coach also added and said it was up to FIBA to decide what would

Sociology
happen to his players, but they would accept those consequences. "It is what it is, but the one
thing you have to know about this team is we're not going to back down," he said. "We already
restrained the players before the game ... when Kickert did all of those things at the start,
during the warm-up we told them 'we're not going to punch him, focus on the game’. “When he
did that in the third quarter, it's hard to restrain them anymore. "Reyes was no happy at all
(Hayhurst, 2014 p.23). He blamed the Australians player for their bad behavior and he said that
they could not have loosed the match if it were not for this chaos in the pitch.
Impact of the violence to key stakeholders
The incidence affected both the fans and players in Australia. We all know that every bad
behavior has its repercussions. Violence in games results in a lot of things. Some of the effects of
the violence from the game were;
There were increased injuries since a number of fans were seen using chairs and other objects to
fight their opponents in the court (Hemphill & Symons, 2014 p.23).
The violence affected the morale for the game thus causing the referee to halt the match until
further communication.
The Australian was to bear the strict discipline measures from the International Board of
Basketball.
The violence affected the image of supporters and the sponsors who were supporting the two
teams.
Violence also affected the entire government and also the entire sphere of basketball sports in
Australia (Inoue, Berg & Chelladurai, 2015 p.27).