2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers: 13 players ejected in an ugly brawl during an Australia-Philippines game
What's the story?
In a 2019 FIBA World Cup Asia Qualifiers game between the national teams of Australia and Philippines, all hell broke loose in an ugly brawl during the third quarter.
In case you didn't know
This game, which was the final first-round game in Group B for either team, only had the top spot in the group at stake. Both teams had already qualified for the second round of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, certainly not worth the brawl that went down.
Heart of the matter
Here's the brawl:
Give the volatile situation, the referees took close to half an hour to access the situation and hand out ejection. A total of 13 ejections were announced - 4 from Australia and 9 from the host nation. What followed was even hilarious.
The game continued with the Philippines having only 3 players remaining. Yet, this wasn't the end of it. The game continued until Mar Fajardo of the Philippines got fouled out, forcing his team to play 2 on 5 the rest of the way.
Then, this:
The game didn't make it to the fourth quarter.
A terrible situation for the game, the Australian Board were quick to respond with a press release:
Nothing so far from the Philippines.
What's next?
There are bound to be sanctions and bans from not only FIBA but also the respective boards of each nation. A game, which didn't have anything at stake, saw among the worst brawls in basketball history. What's worse is that some of the fans got involved, which is something you never want to see in any sport.
Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for the latest updates on this disappointing and disgraceful brawl.