Beat me to it. Also up on the 36ers site.

NBL has judged that:

- it should've been an unsportsmanlike foul
- Abney was not acting maliciously
- officials will be reminded of the rules regarding unsportsmanlike fouls

I hope Rick Burton also flies over to sign Brad's cast.

Last night Cooper (I think) was the one that caused Bradtke to leave the court. Sporting a cut above the eye. I didn't hear any comments about that. That's right, no one saw it because it wasn't on bloody Fuxtel.........

The statement by the NBL vindicates those aggrieved by the ref's incorrect call. However, it does nothing to address the real issue of MANY incorrect and non calls by refs who did not justify their $1000+ match payment.

$1000+ match payment, I'd like some of those drugs your on....

If only anon actually read some of the posts that have already been put up here I wouldn't go over this.

However, I will cover some old ground to enlighten the uneducated and ignorant... I think we have already pretty much agreed that Abney was not trying to injure Brad Hill, that the foul was unsportsmanlike and we were disappointed to not see it call.

What you call whinging and not a big deal may not exactly apply to Brad Hill, who may have felt at the very least a little better knowing that the refs were sticking up for him by calling it an USF. It also left a sour taste in a lot of fans mouths.

After he has a horrific break I think it is the least we can do for the poor bloke who now has to sit on the sidelines for 8 weeks, don't forget that this sort of thing could end a young kids career. Before you think the whole incident is nothing, think about Brad Hill, would you feel the same way if it was you, would you say to everyone "what's the big deal" and "everyone is whingers"??? while walking around with a clean break and compound fracture??? I think not

As for the other anonymous post, we wouldn't have reacted the same way, although I know I would have felt very sorry for the guy and that he did not deserve it and if excessive contact was made then it would not have been fair to only get a normal foul called instead of a USF.

Nice post, you should ID yourself so we know who you are, very well said.

Imagine this scenario, a teenager gets his first car. He invites a couple of mates to come for a drive. He shows off by driving in a reckless manner. He loses control of his car and crashes into a tree killing one of his mates. No penalty is given because he did not intend to kill his mate. He is let off scott free. Imagine the parents of the deceased how hurt and angry they would be. Response, if it hadn't resulted in a death, we wouldn't be having this argument.

That's one better left alone EC - there are too many cases that have gone either way in those circumstances.

Anon #106358, someone did get hurt out of Abney's recklessness regardless of intent.

EC you are usually fair an reasonable this scenario I believe you have blown out of all proportion.

You lost me on your last case scenario.

Now i dont know if Brad Hill does read this site but i know that i am getting sick and tired of hearing this. If he was to be reading this site then i am sure he would hate these posts because it would just be continualy reminding him of that dreadful minute.

Comparing a broken arm to killing your friends. Nice job

Sturty6ers, if there was a problem with Cooper and Bradtke, there would also be a complaint to the NBL. If so, we will hear the outcome of that as well. No one is saying its alright to do it to them but they can't do it to us. Accountability has to be enforced in situations like this. I wasn't there, it could have been a pure unavoidable accident or it could have been intentional. The authorities will need to decide.

Sorry , I didn't see the incident, but the consequences are obvious.I take it that a foul was called but not an Unsportsman like?
Refs are sometimetimes hounded for calling late so they get determined to call immediately. If this was the case, then the consequences were such that the call could have been amended to unsportmanlike to suit the circumstances - no problems, there would have been a delay in game. Is it really ref stubborness that's the issue here? Oh and hindsight being a wonderful thing.
It still doesn't change one thing in regard to the points difference turn around. In sporting situations where one of your players gets touched up you STEP UP. This didn't happen so the chances of it occurring from this point in time are minimal. The veteran and name sixers will be reminded of it by opposition for the remainder of the season. So from here, go with developmentfor 2007-2008 and take the humiliation on the chin.

I agree, it is unfortunate that the poor guy landed really hard on the pine and was injured. Any experienced player knows there was nothing in that foul that was out of the ordinary, it was just the way he landed. One more point, maybe if he put his foot down and layed the ball up instead of slowing down and trying to dunk it he wouldnt be in the hurt locker.

That is ridiculous, he wouldn't be hurt if he layed it up instead of slowing down and dunking it??

Come on, do you really think that would have made a difference? Abney was going for the block no matter what. I agree it was unfortunate that the way that they hit mid air caused the spill, but it was going to happen because Abney was committed to stopping the easy shot..He may have gone harder knowing it was going to be a lay up hence being more of a chance of a block!

I am not saying Abney hit him on purpose just that it was an unfortunate incident, which definately should have been called an unsportsmanslike foul, if only to set the precedent of what should be called. If a player cannot go up for a bucket without having to worry about being taken out, we might as well call it the AFL.

I am trying not to contradict myself here, because it is a fine line between playing hard and stopping soft buckets, and taking someone out..It is up to the refs to draw that line, and I think here that they didn't..

Taking him out? It was a hard foul and he lost balance and an unfortunate incident he was hardly taken out, there is a big difference.
In reference to laying it up IMO he slowed down as he approached the bucket which is probably more the issue DB5 ?

I wasn't saying he took him out Panda, just that there is a fine line between taking a guy out and a hard foul..The umpires not calling an unsportsmanlike foul there just makes it a grey area, especially when I watched the queens vs Wildcats game and there were 2 "soft" unsportsmanlike fouls called.. It confuses players and fans..

I agree it was an unfortunate incident, however it still could have happened whether laying it up, or dunking it as Abney was pumped, and flying down the court after Hill..

Is Brad still in contract after this season Isaac/anyone??

Pretty sure that this is a contract year for Hill. I think Mark Nash might be the only one signed for next season at this stage?

Damn, that really sucks for Brad in a contract year...
Let's all hope it is not the last we see of him in the Sixers colours... Could be another quality young guy that gets away.

At least we have instant offence Nash though...lol.

For heavens sakes everyone, Abney approached from behind. He used such force that there could be no question about what the consequences were going to be. I questioned in an earlier post Abney's lack of remorse for what he did. This in itself begs the question of whether it was intentional. I also questioned the fact that this incident lifted Abney's game. He did not play the rest of the game as though there was something troubling him over what had happened. The argument I received was that he is a professional and knows how to put incidences like that behind him. Where was the professional when it came to making a judgement about a potentially dangerous situation? If anyone listened to Brad Hill on Talking Hoops tonight, you would have heard him say that he has not received a single call from Abney or Townsville Crocs to see how he was or to apologise for what happended to him. Is anyone surprised by this? I certainly wasn't.

Nope, I wasn't surprised either.

I wouldnt know of many clubs that would call the opposition players after an incident.

I think if anything, if the teams met again, and the player injured was still out, but at the game in civvies, the coach might stop and ask how they are doing.

It is professional sport, not the Brady Bunch. Opposition teams are just that, the opposition and you take whatever edge you can get, without being maliciious of course.

I am not saying I agree with, just a fact of modern day professional sport.

This seems simple!

Referee blows whistle, their hands and arms are signalling personal foul. Its a personal foul.

Referee blows whistle, their hands and arms are signalling USF. Its an Unsportsmanlike Foul.

Reality is, the Referee didn't even have the amount of time it takes us to read the words "This Seems Simple" before one of the two option above had been done, and is well and truly making his way towards the bench.