Gilas, Boomers put memories of ugly brawl behind

There will be no bad blood between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia when they lock horns in the second window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Basketball Australia executive general manager Jason Smith assured that the sour relationship caused by the infamous brawl between the Filipinos and the Aussies is now a thing of the past. In fact, the Boomers will fly to Manila with grateful hearts, knowing that the Filipinos had already buried the memories of one of the darkest chapters in international basketball.

“We’ve been working on this relationship for years,” Smith told ESPN Australia ahead of the Gilas-Boomers encounter on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“This game is a culmination of that, playing back in the environment. It’s an opportunity to move forward.”

On 2 July 2018, the Filipinos and the Australians figured in an all-out brawl during the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan. The brawl was so ugly that even coaches, team personnel and spectators jumped in, sparking a free-for-all melee that saw seven-footer Thon Maker unleashing a flying kick and Jayson Castro jumping just to land a punch on a taller Aussie.

The Aussies had it worst. A metal chair was hurled at Nathan Sobey while Chris Goulding found himself under a group of Filipino players, coaches and fans with one of them unloading a series of punches straight into his face and body.

Australians branded the incident as “scary” with several media outlets branding the Filipino cagers as thugs who don’t deserve to be in the basketball court.

The International Basketball Federation cracked the whip and suspended 10 Filipinos, including reserve player Jio Jalalon, who planted a wicked punch on Sobey at the sidelines, along with three Australians.

Eight years later, the Australians will get a chance to play in the Philippines for the first time since the infamous brawl, but no fireworks are expected this time as both countries have already moved on and repaired their relationship with a strong desire to put the ugly incident behind. MARK ESCARLOTE

Smith said as soon as they learned that they would be playing in Manila after the draw, they immediately reached out to their counterparts at the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to discuss how to avoid such an incident from happening again.

“Once we knew what the draw was, and where we’d be playing, we immediately reached out to the federation and started discussing what we could do to support each other,” said Smith, who is closely working with SBP executive director Erika Dy and Basketball Australia’s general manager for government and international relations Tristan Russell.

“There was an agreement that we would work together on what we could to to provide an awareness of the relationship behind the scenes between the two federations, and that we’re working together to mend the past and progress from there.”

Russell said they have lined up some activities to make sure that the frosty relationship between the two basketball-loving countries has thawed. Among them is allowing the Gilas Youth squad to visit the Boomers’ practice in Manila and for the coaches of both Gilas and Australia — Tim Cone and John Rillie — to spend some time together ahead of the crucial encounter.

“We have a strong relationship with the Filipino federation, led by Erika. She’s fantastic,” Russell said.

“They have been nothing but accommodating. On Sunday, when the Boomers play, China will have played Chinese Taipei four hours before in the same arena, so it’s a complex system and FIBA runs a tight, strict ship at the venue. The Filipino federation had been absolutely remarkable with how they communicate with us.”