The FIBA World Cup qualifying match between Australia and the Philippines has been abandoned after what is being described as one of the most violent brawls in basketball history.
The disgraceful melee is being compared to the infamous fight in the Detroit Pistons v Indiana Pacers game in the NBA in 2004.
The niggling match erupted in the third quarter with Australia leading 79-48.
The brawl ignited after Boomers star Daniel Kickert reacted to a series of crude fowls on Chris Goulding and threw an elbow at the Gilas’ Roger Ray Pogoy.
After Kickert’s elbow, Philippines’ Jayson Castro and Andray Blatche then charged at him, and soon all ten players on the floor were engaged.
This guy needs to be arrested. https://t.co/JtRr4ziDLT
— Chris Anstey (@ChrisAnstey13) July 2, 2018
The full-scale combat went on for over a minute with current NBA star Thon Maker prominent with several flying ‘king-fu’ kicks.
The Philippines bench soon emptied and joined the free-for-all, while the Boomers bench were restrained by staff from entering the playing area.
Boomer Nathan Sobey suffered the worse treatment, firstly being dragged off the court and being punched on the ground by numerous Gilas players, staff and even spectators.
Then as he struggled to his feet he had a chair smashed over his head and, as the photo below clearly shows, as he was being led from the court still dazed, he was punched in the face by a non-playing member of the Gilas squad.
Not surprisingly a total of 13 ejections were handed out. Four Australians — Maker, Kickert, Sobey, and Goulding — were ejected, along with nine Filipino players: Japeth Aguilar, Jeth Rosario, Pogoy, Terrence Bill Romeo, Matthew Wright, Calvin Abueva, Blatche, Carl Bryan Cruz and Castro.
This just happened. After one of the wildest on-court brawls in recent memory, the Philippines team pauses to pose for a selfie, like there’s something to celebrate pic.twitter.com/fTXAaBA5lp
— Mitchell Scott (@WhippingBoySEN) July 2, 2018
The game incredibly continued, with Australia having eight eligible players, against the Philippines’ three.
The Philippines had just Gabe Norwood, June Mar Fajardo, and Baser Amer on court but Fajardo and Norwood soon fouled themselves out, bringing the game to a close.
Afterwards Basketball Australia CEO, Anthony Moore, released a statement acknowledging the Boomers part in the incident
“Basketball Australia deeply regrets the incident in tonight’s match between the Boomers and the Philippines in Manila,” Moore said. “We are extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it.
“This is not the spirit in which sport should be played and certainly not in the spirit in which we aim to play basketball. We apologise to our fans and will await the penalties to be handed down.”
Watch the full video below – but be warned it is not for the faint hearted.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsport360.com%2Farticle%2Fother%2F291527%2Fdisgrace-australia-vs-philippines-basketball-game-descends-into-one-of-the-worse-brawls-in-sporting-history%2F&media=%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F07%2FAustralia-vs-Philippines.jpg&description="Disgrace" - Australia vs Philippines basketball g "Pinterest")
