“We appreciate that the game of basketball is of such importance in the hearts of every Filipino.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rained sanctions on the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas yesterday, throwing the SBP program for the Fiba World Cup in disarray.

The SBP accepted the FIBA decision but did not discount the possibility of raising an appeal after 10 of its players were put in danger of missing the next major international tournaments, including the second round of the World Cup’s Asian Qualifier and the 18th Asian Games.

SBP president Al Panlilio yesterday said the sanctions were stiff but they still heaved a sigh of relief after the FIBA spared the players from being meted with lifetime ban following the ugly brawl that erupted between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia in the third window of the World Cup qualifier last July 2.

Based on the 13-page report released by the world-governing body in basketball, Japeth Aguilar and Matthew Wright were slapped with a one-game suspension.

Terrence Romeo, Jason Castro William, Andray Blatche, Jeth Troy Rosario are to lose three games, Roger Pogoy, Carl Bryan Cruz and Jio Jalalon five games and Calvin Abueva will sit out six games.

This means Abueva will not be seeing action for the entire second round against Kazakhstan, Iran and Qatar.

Assistant coach Jong Uichico, who was seen pummeling Chris Golding with a barrage of punches, was also suspended for three games.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes will have to sit out one game and has to pay 10,000 Swiss francs (roughly P530,000) for inciting unsportsmanlike behavior.

Even worse, the SBP was sanctioned for the unsportsmanlike behavior of its delegates as well as for its poor organization of the game.

With that Gilas Pilipinas will have to play its next home game behind closed doors.

The local basketball federation will also be placed under probationary status in the next three years.

The federation also has to pay 250,000 francs (about P12.5 million) as disciplinary fine, a sum that would go directly to “Basketball for Good” social program launched by the International Basketball Foundation.

Panlilio said their next course of action is to review the decision and raise some clarifications within the next two weeks as mandated by FIBA.

“We expected heavy sanctions like a total ban on the federation. But these sanctions are still quite heavy, but it could have been worse,” said Panlilio, who was anticipating the forfeiture of their hosting of the 2023 World Cup as well as hefty penalties for players and the federation following the brawl that made international headline.

Players, coaches, team officials and even fans went at each other during that infamous brawl.

“It’s very clear that the focus of the sanctions is on the FIBA World Cup qualifier games. Again, it could have been much worse,” Panlilio said. “So, the next step is to review the decision well. There are some facts that we need to clarify.”

Panlilio added holding their next home game against Qatar on September 17 behind closed door is a major blow to basketball-crazy Filipinos. In fact, in the squad’s previous match against the Boomers, around 22,000 were in attendance in the 50,000-seater Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

“It’s painful to have a closed-door game,” he said. “It’s a driving lesson that we could have done it the better way.”

Executive director Sonny Barrios, however, explained the principle behind the “probation.”

He said it means that FIBA put the home games under “probationary status” to increase the level of security and make sure that no untoward incident will ever happen again.

“Probationary simply means there is now one closed-door game,” he said.

“If there is no untoward incident in the Qatar game in September, the next game will be held open to public.”

“We better have no similar incident in the next three years.”

On the same note, Australian Daniel Kickert, whose flying elbow on Pogoy sparked the melee, was suspended five games.

Thon Maker was banned three games and Chris Goulding one game.

Their national federation, Basketball Australia, was also assessed with a fine of 100,000 francs (P5.3 million) for unsportsmanlike behavior and for abusing and tampering with equipment after removing advertising decals on the court on the eve of the match.

Panlilio, however, did not mind the Boomers’ sanction.

“I’d rather focus on the Philippines’ (sanctions),” he said, reiterating that they deeply regret the incident.

““We appreciate that the game of basketball is of such importance in the hearts of every Filipino. And in that light, we wish to assure our countrymen and the FIBA that we’ll work to raise our hosting standards to a higher level as befits the traditional hospitality accorded to guests by our people.”

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