HPB Tournament Final Day Commentary

The final day of the HPB Invitational ended on a controversial note as the 3rd-4th placing match descended into bedlam, overshadowing the gold-medal match up between the Shanxi Zhongyu and Taiwan Beer, which, incidentally, had been a one-sided affair with Shanxi Zhongyu winning 102-69.

The 3rd-4th placing game between the Yulon Dinos and Kyung Hee University bordered on travesty as the game played out with a 1-on-4 situation in the closing three minutes after a flurry of ejections, leaving Kyung Hee with only one player left to play and Yulon with only four.

The game had been physical from the outset, and a well-placed elbow from Yulon's Tseng Wen-Ting on Kyung Hee's Park Chan Hee sparked off what can be best described as utter pandenomium as players from both teams rushed the court to join in the fray. With fists flying left and right, it took a good fifteen minutes for the referees and team officials to break up the fight.

After a period of debate, the referees called Tseng Wen-Ting for an intentional foul, awarding Kyung Hee two free-throws and possesion of the ball. They also ejected the two players who started the fight, Park Chan Hee and Yulon's Yang Che-Yi, and all the other players from both teams who entered the court during the fight, which essentially adds up to the remaining seven players on the bench for both sides.

The match continued with both sides only having four players each, and no substitute players available. Although the match proceeded without much furor, play was still physical in nature, and it seemed that tempers could flare at any moment.

A non-call on Tseng Wen-Ting's supposed charging foul resulted in protests from the Kyung Hee team, and emotions were beginning to boil over. As the match had become somewhat meaningless for the Koreans, the players committed unnecessary fouls in order to foul out of the game.

Lee Jee Woon fouled out at the 6:21 minute mark while Park Byung Kyu did the same three minutes later, followed by Choi Ji Hoon just seconds later. With only one Korean player left on court to play, the referees had no choice but to end the game with 3:06 left to play and the score 73-83 in favour of Taiwan Beer.

Such a situation has been unheard of in Malaysia, regardless of the level of competition, and it also reflects the stoic adherence to the rules by the Taiwanese referees, who deserve our respect and admiration. Although this tournament is considered a minor one, the Taiwanese referees did their jobs with the strictest regard to the rules of basketball.

This unwavering compliance to regulations had allowed the sanctity of basketball rules to be preserved, in effect limiting the occurence of teams choosing to walk out and forfeit games as and when they feel the officiating is not to their liking.

Officiating has always been a point of contention, regardless of sport and level of competition, and often, conflicts break out during a match because teams perceive the officials as being unfair. One of the officials at the HPB tournament had expressed his approval of the job the referees had done, given the limited budget for hiring referees, the fact that they still stuck to their principles is admirable enough.

We Malaysians could learn a thing or two from the Taiwanese, especially those of us who perpetually complain about the terrible officiating at every game, when we ourselves are not completely familiar with the actual basketball rules and regulations.

On the other hand, referees who are not up to par really ought to put in more effort to improve their knowledge of the game and throughly understand the rules of the game in order to officiate better. Officials do play a role in elevating the standard of play and without qualified referees around, who is to say such a fiasco will not happen in Malaysia as well?

By Chen Hui Jing ‧ 18th October 2009

台湾花莲观护杯国际邀请赛闭幕之际，一场罕见的篮坛案例赶上了尾班车，掩盖了山西中宇以以102比69大胜台湾啤酒的决战锋芒。

裕隆与韩国庆熙大学在较早前举行的季、殿军赛，创造了举世哗然的赛事。双方泰半队员被驱逐出场，其中，庆熙队在比赛还剩3分06秒之际，只剩下1人作赛，致使球赛提前结束，令这场比赛草草收科之余，给赛会添上刺眼的五颜六色。

正当裕隆、庆熙的热战第二节的2分28秒之际，稀有的篮坛案例悄悄上演。裕隆队明星中锋曾文鼎背对着庆熙控卫朴灿熙欲展开进攻，两人发生肢体碰撞，曾文鼎在被干扰下，把球传出，但手臂撞上了朴灿熙，后者怒火烧心，二话不说即挥拳打向曾文鼎。

顿然间，两队乱成一团，大前锋杨哲宜火上烧油，追打朴灿熙，双方板凳无一不踏进球场，有劝架，更有找碴，裁判员在双方球职员的协助下，勉力平息事端，总算把场面控制了下来。

比赛因此停顿了超过15分钟，裁判员经过商议，开出以下罚单：曾文鼎领违反体育精神犯规，庆熙队获得2个罚球和开边线球；肇事打人的朴灿熙与杨哲宜，被判 夺权犯规，以及所有冲进球场的两队板凳球员，齐齐被判夺标犯规，因此，比赛双方各只剩下原来在场上的4人，打完剩下的比赛。

续赛后，好长的一段时间相安无事，但是，有意无意之间的寻畔，小动作的问候还是时有发生，随时都会再度擦枪走火。果然，进入第4节，庆熙队因为不满裁判员没有判罚曾文鼎带球撞人，而情绪升温。

倒数6分21秒，已对比赛索然无味的庆熙队，前锋李志元随意的领下第5犯，比赛从4打4，减至3打4，比分是65比72，裕隆队领先。

倒数3分21秒，轮到后卫朴柄圭也胡乱的犯规，挂上红色5牌，庆熙队再减一人，形成了2打4的残局，裕隆队以81比73领先已经没有太大的意义。

15秒后，庆熙队的大前锋崔智勋也不打了，学着先前的两位同僚，胡乱的犯规，使得庆熙队以73比83，形成了最后1打4的烂局，裁判员只好宣布球赛提前结束。

这一特殊的案例，在马来西亚，无论哪一个级别的比赛，都是闻所未闻，简直荒谬离奇。但是，这里头却昭示着台湾篮球同道对篮球、对球规的认真与坚持，值得我们马来西亚有篮球的角落、旮旯，诚心学习与万分尊重。

观护杯赛，虽然只是一个邀请赛，但是，台湾球人却没有“姑息养奸”，当篮球的规则受到侵害时，不管人情还是面子，统统都要靠边站。

严厉执法，宏扬球规，与其说让台湾的裁判员出尽了风头，不如说维护与坚持球规的信念与精神，成为了本出闹局的胜利者。如果没有这么样的判罚，台湾今后办的 球赛，只怕会助长参赛队伍倾砸投以罢赛的威胁，或者诉诸武力殴斗的丑例，将如鬼魅般缠身，挥之不去，琼斯杯赛与观护杯赛之所以为本区域篮坛称颂，这一点， 就可以看出台湾人对待篮球的真心实意。

解铃还须系铃人，本案例的发生，也在那些有心主办赛事的篮协或单位的心头上，留下了烙印。执法裁判员的水平，是球赛免除罢赛之忧、诉诸武力之虞的第一道闸口。

观护杯赛的场务人员就感慨的说出心里话，他说：“碍于经费不及年前充裕，我们没能够让更多优秀的裁判员前来执勤，但是，对诠译规则的执着和苦心，我们的裁判员还是挺了过去……。”

在马来西亚篮坛来说，台湾球人尊重规则和贯彻规则的实践能力与魄力，值得我们深刻的学习，尤其是那些经常指责裁判员执法有偏，而对规则一知半解之徒，实在有丰富的教育意义与实材。

而对误判累累又蒙然不醒的裁判员来说，虚心学习以快步跟上，不只能让裁判员的声望取得突破，也是免除类似丑剧发生在马来西亚的篮球世界的不二铁律，否则，这类的灾难，又怎会舍得离你而去呢？

刘祖麟报道