This is absolutely disgraceful, my goodness in all my years in basketball i cant believt that his sort of behaviour is possible from a 16 yr old in an under 18 comeptition. What a disgrace whoever did this and shame on them as well, they should be banned for the rest of the season and some more for this act.

This act does not endorse anything which is promoted within the club, and unfortunately such an act overshadowed what was a commendable win by Woodville, despite the numerous excuses Norwood could provide.

The report was made and had formally been submitted following the game and I believe the resulting suspension shall be a sufficient penalty that would similarly constitute an in-club consequence.

Norwood wants to reiterate the fact that such an act is not taken lightly and that the rest of this team's players, and players from other teams are in no way inclined to behave similarly.

Common Assault. Minimum one year ban from the game by both BSA and the Club, public written apology and some serious counselling made mandatory. Glad it's not my child!

adhd, schizoid, bipolar etc etc are NO excuse.... fit enough to play, good enough to wear the consequences of a dumb, idiotic, moronic and purile act! Show the kid the door for 12 months! Funny it's this certain team in the news again.

"Funny it's this certain team in the news again" - huh? When were they in the news before?

The referees could have avoided the second incident (when the offending player spat at the woodville player after the game) by charging the offender with a disqualifying foul as soon as he did it the first time. Personally, I would regard spitting in the ref's face as a "flagrantly unsportsmanlike action" (Art. 37.1.1 Rules of Basketball). He would have had to leave the stadium and he wouldn't have had the opportunity to do it again!. In any case, terrible behaviour you never want to see anywhere, let alone on a basketball court hosting a juniors game. I hope BSA throws the book at him.

Agreed, the umpires handled the situation very poorly. However NOTHING can excuse the actions of the player in question, and the coach, club and BSA will surely deal with it as appropriate.

Undersized pf - By the way, what do you think about the Woodville parent who abused the player, calling him a highly offensive term prior to the first spitting incident. Whilst nowhere near as serious as the spitting incident, the term he used was highly derogatory. Both he and the spitter should have been thrown out. I assume Woodville will deal with this one?

alright listen up, i was the kid that did that, and yes i did spit in the umpires face but didnt spit in the woddville players face, i just wouldnt shake his hand which aswell i know was wrong, ya know i lost my cool in the heat of the moment and yeh ive received a phonecall about a ban n while i dont yet know the sentence im sure it would be for a while and sure i was receiveing abuse from the sidelines but that does not excuse my actions. oh and in respons to the 1st post, im 17 not 16 silly. and the club has nothing to do with this incident , it was me so leave norwood and my coach alone for this. so there ya go, youve read what i have to say, make what you want of it.

what happend to that poor boy that dislocated his sholder in the 4th quarter is he alright does anybody know? he was having a terrific game and to spoil it with an injury like that i really feel bad for him. hope hes ok.

yeh there was a woodville parent making racist remarks towards the player on the norwood team

number10 - very well said. I can assure you that the entire Norwood team feel for the boy who dislocated his shoulder, and wish him a speedy recovery.

Jimmy - you seem confused. You are trying to turn this into something it wasn't. The incident relating to the shoulder dislocation was a completely separate incident, and was an accident that can occur in any sporting contest. And no, it wasn't a "heated game of hoops", apart from this incident. The Woodville boys deserve to be commended for their fine effort.

WarriorMum - I am sure the tribunal will deal with it appropriately. I'm not sure what you mean thogh by your reference to the coach?

WarriorMum - fair enough, just wasn't sure what you meant.

Do you have any comment to make about the disgusting racist term that a 'WarriorDad' used to abuse the player before the spitting occurred? I guess the parent in question has some soul searching of his own to do.

Number 14,
The 'taking out of players' at the end of the game were not intentional efforts to hurt the Woodville players. They were in the penalty and so were fouling in order to get posession of the ball back. It only occurred, 2 or 3 times as far as I am aware. The first two resulted in two players fouling out which was followed by the incident.

Furthermore, regarding the shaking of hands after the game, there was in no way any intentional act by the Norwood players to deny shaking hands. As far as I recall, I did not shake every player's hand but it was merely because the other players had already walked off and should in no way been perceived as unsportsmanlike behaviour.

The magnitude of this issue is being severely bloated and unfortunately people are taking other things out of context. First of all, I see in no way the parallels between the actions of this one player and the apparent actions of the club in regard to the Easter Classic. Secondly, just because one individual has completed such a taboo, this does not mean the entire team, or organization should be swept under this misinformed generalization. Thirdly, the remarks in regard to the coach having to do 'soul searching' are ridiculous in that the coach did not at any stage insinuate the players to harrass Woodville players, and nor was his behaviour towards the referee any different to any other coaches behaviour at a series of district games.

This person should be treated harshly in my opinion. We had a blood rule brought in for a reason with stringent rules for dealing with it because of the risk of infection these days. Spitting on someone is NO different.The saliva from this person can be contaminated with HIV.
You do not know !
WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR CHILD INFECTED ?

From memory BSA uses the BA guidelines for tribunals - but for the life of me I cant find those guidelines but if they follow them I doubt very much he will get 6 months. I think spitting at the umpire will be a max of 20 weeks, and spitting at a player it will be 6 weeks max.

Include Hepatitis in that too! meningococcal and others.

In common law when you spit on someone it is considered assault. If this kid does not get at least a year then justice will not have been served. As for the coach he has told his players not to shake hands with a player that left Woodville while he was coaching. I guess he is going on with it here. Having said that I also would like to thank the Norwood mother that helped. Norwood as a whole is seen to be doing the right thing. Let's hope the tribunal does as well.

the coach has nothing to do with this, the some players shook hands some didnt, he didnt tell them to do anything

He did as a Woodville coach. Just saying it is his style.

131401 - What a ridiculous statement, The Norwood coach has nothing to do with this. Also the COACH HIMSELF shook hands with the Woodville players after the game. There was no ill-feeling in the game apart from the incident involving ONE PLAYER ONLY. Also the coach has already done the right thing and removed the player from the squad. Stop being such a drama queen and making this into something it's not.

if he gets off and walks away freely, the system is fuckin bullshit

I cannot believe what I have been reading in regards to 'that game' played on Friday. Firstly the two incidents that occured during the game were completely separate. The injury to the Woodville player was accidental. In my opinion the injury was the result of hard, intense basketball which at the time was being played honestly and fairly. It was not until the end of the game that tempers flared and the regretable incident occured. There were no remarks to 'take out' any players at any stage of the game and any speculation on that matter is purely just that. Also there was little effort from the officals to control the incident let alone the entire game. Just prior to the spitting, hecklers from the sidelines where free to abuse the Norwood player as much as they wanted. Woodville players also approached the Norwood player at this time and gave their two cents worth. Perhaps if at this time the proper measures were taken by the officals the spitting would never have occured.
To Anyone from Woodville who was involved in this game, and was offended or hurt by what happened, you must know that there is no hatred or ill-feelings from our side. The next time the two teams meet, which as most people know will be at the state championships, I'm certain that contrary to what people think, the game will be played as it was played on Friday all bar 15 seconds at the end, hard and intense, but honestly and fairly.

neither is letting parents freely abuse players

To Doddobird,
I'm not trying to blame the ref's at all, nor am I trying to defend or justify what happened. but still I stand by what I said, I made no accusations, I only pointed out that in my opinion, the ref's didnt handle the situation as well as they should've. The situation was avoidable!

It perplexes me as to how this situation has become so hyperbolic in nature, action and overall perception of the Norwood Basketball Club.

The understanding that this action was somehow encouraged by the coach and further commended by the coach is pure insult and a shocking depiction of naivity and prejudice of some of these people posting here. The coach did nothing in this game to be held responsible for the actions of his player. Unfortunately, this incident by a player who despite being subject to heckling from Woodville parents and players has been exasperated and manipulated into sledging of the coach and team, neither of who were involved in unsportsmanlike behaviour during the course of the match.

The fact of the matter is, for 31 minutes 58 seconds, Woodville played hustle basketball, which was too much for the Norwood team whatever their excuse be. The final two seconds of this match have unfortunately overshadowed Woodville's achievement. Two seconds which, regardless of the initial incident should not have seen a further incident in the following minutes.

Speculation, hindsight, circumspect, whatever it be, this act was not commendable, obviously. Furthermore, there is no one who should be blamed for the action of the individual as it was upon his own accord that this act was completed.

Finally, insinuation of the coach's morality and integrity is unneccessary and irrelevant. This action was a result of numerous events unbeknown to the general observer or speculator here and neccessary action will and already has been taken.

Unfortunately, people are failing or refusing to accept that this was an extreme occassion where emotion got out of hand.

No one is to blame for the spitting except the Norwood player himself, the ref's however, probably could've defused the situation before the spitting occured. So its not the ref's fault the spitting happened, but the question has to be raised whether the ref's could've prevented it. I dont know how else to put it for you

The game on Saturday at State Champs will be played fairly, honestly and in good spirit. Some of the Woodville boys have already posted on here about their intention to just 'get on with it'. The player who spat WILL NOT BE THERE, and in any case, 4 of the Norwood boys who will play on Saturday were not even there Friday night, so have nothing to do with any of this.

Phantom - "Not justifiying what this kid did because this team is taught to play dirty by the coach, but hey lets look at the past and what that teaches us." - This is naive, absolutely untrue, not to mention extremely insulting to the coach in question. Grow up.

Also, if the coach somehow condoned or encouraged this behaviour, then why is is that the coach himself has taken actions to have the player removed from the team? Some people just can't help having a dig, can they?

Doddobird,
There was at least 10 to 15 seconds when Woodville players were free to approach the Norwood Player (before he spat), exchange words and further intensify the situation (physical contact was made to his head), where was the ref during this period?

I'm sorry mumps, could you enlighten us to the "well documented problems surrounding this team"?

yeah mumps, enlighten us

Way to make a ridiculous accusation and not back it up at all.

This topic is turning into a ridiculous sledge of Norwood Basketball Club.

The topic regards the player his actions, and the possible consequences. Discuss the topic but don't sling mud at the club who in no way enticed this behaviour.

Mumps you might want to direct that apology to the coach involved. Very insulting to him indeed.

certainly am looking forward to hearing about the results from the game on the weekend. hopefully the injury wont effect woodville too greatly and that it is a clean game

If the coach was Peter Berry then there have been problems before. If the coach was not Peter Berry then I don't know what all the trouble is about.

Either way I don't know what all the trouble is about. This is not about the coach - but apparently you have a hard time understanding that.

elg - if you have spoken directly to him then you would also know that the game was not spiteful in any way apart from this, and that the anonymous sniping at the team and their coach is not only unfair but also quite untrue.

you may also know the answer to this. norwood (specifically the coach) has already taken action against the player. have woodville taken the appropriate action against the parent who abused the norwood player with a disgustingly racist term? i might add that this is no way justifies what the player did, but i'm just curious.

elg - I agree that the woodville boy did nothing wrong, so you don't need to justify his actions. i was there and he was clearly trying to do exactly as you say.

but to deny that the racist term was used is showing your bias. trust me, there were enough people who heard it, including the player it was directed at, and it was extremely degrading and offensive.

anyway, we could argue this forever, but i'm sure we both agree that spitting on someone is disgusting, as is racially abusing someone.

elg - i can assure u it wasnt the pat on the head, more the comments that followed,i was on court, i herd what was said

so is this player any good, or just there to create trouble?

The pat on the head in my opinion was what kept the incident rolling, once again in no way am I supporting what happened next, but whatever the boy's intention, why provoke the situation after the ref's had dealt with the hard foul?

the player in question was in sasi for 3 years and played state for under 16 metro, so he no doubt has skill, and hes never come close 2 doing an action like this before. hes apologised, hes getting a ban, who knows he mite even quit if the bans long enough so everyone just leave the player alone and get over the situation

"2000 years of evoultion and human diginty where thrown out the window" get over it its happened before in sport, itl probably happen again, that comment just shows how much this whole thing has been blown out of proportion

It was clearly written by someone who was angry at the time, im sure they have now looked back and relised they overeacted a lil bit

This has been well discussed, I think the problem is that some people on here are trying to almost get the guy hung, these people were obviously not there on the night because i cant believe they could get it so wrong

Dont forget he was also coping it from a group of girls sitting in the stands, none of this was noticed by old umpi thou, all he heard was what the Norwood boy said

i just cant wait till saturday, when norwood have the 4 players they were missing. that will be a game to remember for woodville

actually your right, i heard they were missing not only four players, but four key players who usualy all start

the ump let things go that he should have stopped, the player shows the ump what he thinks of him with a harmless amount of spit. i say lucky the ump didnt cop a fist from the kid cuz although under 6ft hes easily one of the strongest kids in the league, not saying that it would be right of the kid to do that either, i just think the umps lucky to come away from it all with no physical harm

only 2 starters were missing, but both of are over 6'5, the whole norwood team had to play out of position.

no come on now, what happened was wrong, its been well said now that things got outta hand and perhaps the umps could've helped abit more. But thats doesnt excuse what happened

I just hpoe theres not some huge gruge match, and that the players are mature enough to get on with the game

i never did say it is excusable, and the player obviously knows this aswell. just saying when u look at it, a bit of spit isnt all to harmful

unfortunatly for the boy who did it, he now has a crusade being led against him

i personally know the player, and he was havin a joke about it after the game. he was pissed off at the time but hes over it and he doesnt think nothing more of it. hes taking the ban on the chin without complaint. this incident doesnt mean hes a bad person or a "typical wog" ect as so nicely put by a certain woodvilel parent, he just lost his cool and hes alredy expressed his regret for it.

problem is theres alot of people who stil think alot of it, i say cop the fine, learn a lesson and be dun with it

nah, he was having a well earnt rest

nah, he was having a well earnt rest

@131562

nowhere in that did i say the ref deserved to be punched, i just said hes lucky the kids emotions didnt completely show. i agree that refs deserve to feel safe but in that same respect players also deserve to feel safe on court not only from other players but from spectators. you are clearly are one sided with your arguments while at least most people open to both sides. your the one handling this immaturely

How many times do people need 2 say that they dont agree with what happened, i think everytime someone reads one of these they should keep that in mind, no1 supports what happened!

yeh some people just need it hammered into there skulls cuz its to much for them to take in all at once

@#131562

and by calling it your way i assume you mean norwood because im a north parent that viewed the game not the player that did it

i just hope the teams play with the same passion these people argue with

The people that are saying he should not cop a huge suspension are not from this world. If someone spat on me I would report it to the police and have them up on assault. This is a despicable act and the kid should get the book thrown at him. He committed an assault on the umpire and a player. Be real there can be no excuses.

the kid should throw a book at you

#131576 either you have no morals or have just come out of a tree. To support this action makes you just as bad. Maybe worse as at least his actions were in the heat of the moment.