Australia has apologized for sticker incident, SBP officials say

The Australian delegation has already apologized for stripping the ads off the Philippine Arena’s court on Sunday, which drew the ire of SBP chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan, Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascarinas, and Gilas head coach Chot Reyes.

In a report by ESPN5, SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said that the head of the visitors already expressed regret over the matter during the manager’s meeting on Sunday night.

“They take full responsibility and they were very much apologetic,” he said.

“The method of what they did, in solving the problem or the issue, was wrong. They leave it to FIBA to decide on the matter. He apologized to the whole group in the technical meeting.”

The Australians had removed stickers of major brands SMART, Chooks-to-Go, and PLDT, which are all major sponsors of Gilas and the national basketball federation.

The reason given was that the on-court decals were allegedly slippery for the Boomers, who had a practice session at the Philippine Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Gilas head coach Chot Reyes, in a separate tweet, was also left fuming with what the visiting team had done, saying that those ads were all approved by FIBA itself.

The report added that a FIBA official has already made a report on the incident.

“It will be now up to the FIBA committee on discipline to give a decision and whatever penalties, if ever, to be meted out to the Australian delegation,” Barrios shared.

FIBA officials will make sure that the decals will be placed back on the court on Monday.