The Guyana Basketball Officials Council (GBOC) has broken its silence on the abandoned finals of the Road to Mecca National Club Championship which was held on March 19 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The game ended prematurely when Linden’s Retrieve Raiders walked off the court in protest of a foul called by the officiating referees, which then translated into three technical fouls and the ejection of Raiders’ Captain Dwayne Roberts.
After a 40-minute break the Raiders returned to the court only to have the Bounty Colts decide that they wanted no part of the finals against the Raiders.
The following is the full statement by GBOC:
It was unfortunate that the Clubs Championship Road to Mecca 111 on Saturday 19 Mach 2016 between Colts and Retrieve Raiders at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall came to a halt, based on the opinion that an unwarranted foul was called against a player from Retrieve Raiders.
After receiving the foul, the said player threw the ball to the floor reacting to the Referee’s call. Subsequently other players showed acts of indecent gestures which led to two more technical fouls and a disqualifying foul against the Captain of the said team for mouthing profanities at the Referee.
Before the Referees administered the free throws to Colts, the Raiders were informed what the decision by the three Referees was. After hearing this they immediately walked off the playing area.
According to FIBA Rules Article 20.1
A team shall lose the game by forfeit if:
- The team is not present or is unable to field 5 players ready to play 15 minutes after the scheduled time to begin
- Its actions prevent the game from being played
- It refuses to play after being instructed to do so by the referee.
Point to note, GBOC would have written LABA the (Linden Amateur Basketball Association) on the 24 February 2016 inviting Referees to officiate in the said tournament.
The GABF President intervened which should not have happened because the Referees’ decision is final. The President was informed of what happened by the lead Referee that once a team walks off the playing area automatically they lose the game which should have been rewarded to Colts.
The President was able to get the Raiders back on the floor, bearing in mind the fans really wanted to see the outcome of the game. At this point the Raiders and the President wanted the technical fouls to be withdrawn. But the Referees disagreed. The lead Referee and the President went to the monitor to review the play which caused the foul after watching the play in “real game time” about three times the lead Referee did not notice a foul.
However as the lead Referee, twenty four hours later I had the opportunity of watching the same replay, this time in slow motion about five times, which gave me a better view from the previous replay. I was able to detect a foul from one of the players from Raiders pushing off a player from Colts to gain possession of the ball therefore it was the correct call by the Referee.
If you are playing for Five Hundred Thousand Dollars or Five Million Dollars you must respect the Referees call at all times even if it is a bad call, because we are all humans and at some time we will make the wrong call, in this case it was the right one. Players must learn to control their emotions in such situations. In this case the Referees were very lenient with the players.
FIBA rules article 6.2
The Captain shall immediately at the end of the game inform the referees if his team is protesting against the result of the game and sign the score sheet in the space marked ‘Captain’s signature’ in case of protest.
With reference to comments made by the GABF President, Mr. Nigel Hinds, we the Referees of the Guyana Basketball Official Council (GBOC) would like an apology from him for the irresponsible comments made after the abrupt halt of game on the night of Saturday March 19, 2016.
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