As the fallout from the Philippines-Australia "basket-brawl" continues, the boss of Basketball New Zealand is confident the Tall Blacks will be safe when they hit the court in the Middle East.
Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis lamented the fact there was no security to protect his players when the fight broke out on Monday. Filipino players hit guard Chris Goulding over 20 times.
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Even more concerning was the fact that the home side’s fans were able to join in, throwing chairs and punches of their own.
The safety of players is a relevant conversation on this side of the Tasman. The Tall Blacks are set to play in one of the most volatile regions of the world when they take on Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the next phase of qualifying.
Due to security concerns, FIBA moved New Zealand’s match against Syria in September to Lebanon, a country they visited last year for the Asia Cup.
"We are comfortable with the arrangements that FIBA have put in place," Basketball NZ CEO Iain Potter told Newshub.
"But of course there are never 100 percent guarantees for anything."
Potter admitted what happened in the Australia-Philippines match was a sad day for basketball but wanted to point out "it doesn’t happen often."
But it did, so security must be checked.
When talking about security, there are two levels. Outside the venue and inside the venue.
Potter believes that the security offered outside the venue for their trip to Lebanon is not a problem with Police escorting the Tall Blacks everywhere they go. It's the security inside the venue that failed in the case of the Philippines and Australia game.
"Andrej's point was who is there to intervene when something like that breaks out?" Potter said.
"I guess it's a wake up we will need to make sure that inside the venue, the security detail [the people] who are managing venue security are more alert to the possibility that that [fighting on the court] could happen.
"FIBA will be looking at this closely because it’s a blot on the game."
Potter expects FIBA to beef up the security inside the venue for the remaining qualifiers.
It’s similar to what New Zealand already has in place in rugby games to prevent streakers and fans entering the field of play, but it’s an added measure that comes with a catch.
"Whatever the rules that FIBA apply, they apply everywhere," Potter said.
"So if they require increased security we will require increased security even though we would like to think that in New Zealand that would never be a cause for concern."
That added security means added costs for Basketball New Zealand.
"It's not something honestly that we have particularly thought about because it’s not something we would expect to see."
The Tall Blacks' play Syria on September 13 before playing Lebanon in New Zealand just three days later.
Newshub.
