14 days in Spain: Day 4 "Dominican"

Had breakfast met Dominican’s assistant coach , who was really interested in finding players for his US NCAA team,   went to practice with the Gilas team at the arena,  had discussions with Paul lee who was in the middle of  messy contract negotiation demanding  a trade.

Prior to the game the organizers via way of the city council had put the Filipino crowd on notice, not wanting a repeat of the previous night’s disorganized crowd proceedings.  As the key contact representing the Philippines I was warned of the consequences.  I tried organising the local Filipino community to provide assistance for today’s game only to find out they were not available, left with no recourse I asked the assistance of our sponsor (Smart)  and its deployed personnel in the arena to assist me.  The plan was to separate  the Dominican and Filipino crowd ,  1 hour prior to tip off however only the Filipino side was occupied,  with the Dominican side practically empty, this was not good for TV as the camera was facing the Dominican side,  an impromptu decision was made to transfer the Philippine crowd to the side facing the camera ,  the barker announcer made the announcement however only half of the Filipino crowd decided to move , as those who had already secured court side seats wanted to keep their good view.  At the end we had a very good and animated crowd for a quality game.

While the game like all the other tune-up games were simply another  “friendly”, there was a feeling in the air that this game won’t be treated lightly and rightfully so , as it served as the last tune-up game for both teams.  For the Philippines in particular I knew the coach wanted to go all out for a win to simulate the experience of a real World cup game, one where he would use his real rotation . The players needed to get that experience of playing for a win and what their expected roles would be like for the real thing..   From the onset the game was highly intense and getting physical.  This was far from a friendly, this was the real thing unfolding.   By the second quarter both teams were starting to hit each other,  then mid way into the quarter a hard foul by Ranidel on a driving Feldine resulted in a near brawl.  Both bench officials entered the court.  The game was stopped for 5 minutes to cool things down.  It was here for the 1^st time  my attention was called by the team manager of the Philippines Aboy Castro- demanding that as organisers I talk to the referees to control the situation.  “ tumitira na yung dalawang teams”   this was new territory for me and had no inkling of what to do next.   I approached  my co organizers at the table ,  with the same request given by Aboy,  the response was “these are professional referees,  it’s not their fault that things have escalated,   They shot back and said the coaching staff and bench of the Philippines shouldn’t agitate things by overly reacting to situations”  In was at that moment that I was in a bind, my loyalties had to be in order , Do I wear the hat of organiser and order the Philippine bench to cool down.  ( imagine having to say that to coach Chot)  or do I side with the coaching staff of the Philippines ( my home nation) and berate the referees?  – “hey control the situation !”  At this point I made the call, I’m an organiser 1^st and foremost in this situation.   Let’s all cool down for awhile , talked to Tab and his Dominican counterpart who I met for breakfast earlier.  OK it’s getting testy , but let’s all relax and settle down.