Gilas moves on as Australia returns for first time since brawl

March 1 ------ The second window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers got underway with Gilas Pilipinas taking on New Zealand in a crucial home tiff that could have significance down the road. But even before the Filipinos and the Tall Blacks squared off at the Mall of Asia Arena, people were already circling the next playdate on their calendars. The reason? The Philippines plays Asia Cup champion Australia today with lingering memories of a dark past shared by both squads.

Australia visits the Philippines for the first time since Gilas and the Boomers engaged in a massive brawl that marred their World Cup Qualifiers game in July 2018 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. And in Australia, FOX Sports Basketball fanned the flames of that unforgotten moment by posting a video on their social media account—an old episode of “The Back Page,” a now-defunct Australian sports program, where the fight was discussed. “Basketball 2.0 is coming,” the Australian media outlet wrote to begin its caption, with Australian basketball legend Shane Heal sharing his thoughts during the said episode that appeared to have aired shortly after the infamous incident.

The 90-second video had Heal describing the fight as “scary,” given how it became a free-for-all with several Gilas players leaving the bench and unleashing several blows on the Boomers, more particularly Chris Goulding, Daniel Kickert and Nathan Sobey. “Who does these sort of things,” Heal said, before a host responded in jest by saying, “Filipinos are obviously angry at Pacquiao getting beaten by Jeff Horn,” referring to Pacquiao’s loss to the Aussie fighter the previous year.

Heal continued by saying that the “worst part” about the incident was the involvement of “some of the staff from the Philippines team.” A defining moment from that fracas was Jio Jalalon, who was part of the Gilas pool but did not play, throwing a straight right at Nathan Sobey, right in front of former Spin photographer Jerome Ascano.

Ascano’s photo was eventually published on the front page of an Australian paper in the aftermath. “Some of the staff from the Philippines team came on, and actually punched our guys in the head,” Heal said. “And the amount of coward punches that happened, coming off the bench and just lining up our guys up and punching them in the back of the head. Scary stuff.”

As a result of the brawl, 13 players were slapped with suspensions, eight of them from Gilas. Some of them, like Jalalon and Calvin Abueva, never got to don the Philippine jersey anew. Chot Reyes “stepped away” as Gilas coach, before eventually returning to the post between 2022 and 2023, while the team had one home game of the Qualifiers held with no fans.

The two teams finally met last August in the Fiba Asia Cup quarterfinals in Saudi Arabia, with Australia ending Gilas’ campaign with an 84-60 decision. The game bore no traces of the bad blood between the two teams. There are no expectations of a “Basketbrawl” sequel, with then-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio saying last year that the SBP and Basketball Australia have since “moved on.” “That was the past. We understand that. We learn from that,” Panlilio said. “Just play basketball.”

Source: inquirer.net