The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the Basketball Australia have issued a joint statement Thursday morning, apologizing and expressing regret over the brawl that marred their FIBA World Cup Qualifiers rematch on Monday.
“We deeply regret the events that took place during the game,” said SBP president Al Panlilio and Ned Coten, Basketball Australia’s chairman, in the statement. “The actions displayed have no place in the basketball court.
“We wish to apologize to the entire basketball community worldwide – and in particular to our fantastic fans in the Philippines and Australia – for the behavior displayed by both teams and for bringing the game of basketball into disrepute.”
The international basketball federation are going through disciplinary proceedings to assess which kinds of sanctions shall they hand out to both teams. With that, the SBP and Basketball Australia have vowed to cooperate.
“We fully accept our responsibility and are collaborating in the ongoing proceedings to investigate the incident,” the statement read.
“We will do everything to prevent this from happening again.”
