By Rawle Toney

THE Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) National Club Championship final between Colts and Retrieve Raiders ended in the most controversial and chaotic fashion with the two teams abandoning the match with 9:18 remaining in the fourth quarter.At the time, Colts had a three-point lead (54-51) over their Linden counterparts, who had complained bitterly throughout the night about what they perceived as ‘bias officiating’.

President of the GABF, Nigel Hinds, in a release on Monday said that his Federation “deeply regrets the fact that the 2016 National Club Championship Final – Colts versus Raiders – was halted in the 4th quarter of the game. For this we apologise to our fans and sponsors”.

The Championship was played with a high degree of competitiveness and was presented to the Guyanese public with the intent of keeping high standards, maintaining discipline and providing a great experience to the supporters of basketball. Fans filled the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday, March 19, to watch the high powered and high quality game,” Hinds said.

The GABF, according to its president, “was on the verge of attaining these goals when, during the fourth quarter of the finals, an unwarranted (as per the video replay) foul call made by one of the referees, followed by three technical fouls from the same referee against Retrieve Raiders, resulted in an exciting and competitive game coming to a premature end.”

“Having the good fortune of E-Networks filming the finals allowed for a review of the video of the initial call by the referee. It was clear to all who viewed the initial foul call that it was unwarranted and absolutely not a foul.
All who viewed the replay, including M. Dexter Douglas (president, Guyana Basketball Official Council) and one of the final game referees: Mr. Rawle Toney, another experienced referee, and countless others including myself, were of the view that no call should have been made by the referee,” Hinds lamented.

Hinds, a former National player himself, believes that just as a motorist should not be penalised by the police for not stopping at a green light, a foul call should not be made against a player for catching an uncontested rebound.

The ensuing technical fouls after the initial call, Hind stated, were seen to be highly questionable, except for the last technical foul, as the foul call created a disrupted state of affairs that was virtually impossible to contain – with teams leaving their bench before the game was over, among other infractions.

“As much as we cannot condone indiscipline, errant calls by referees should not be given a pass merely because the person making the call is a referee. Games between Linden and Georgetown or between top-ranked clubs from Linden and Georgetown are competitive as has been the case over the last eight months, resulting in the most thrilling and competitive basketball Guyana has to offer.

Thus, referees have to be “thick-skinned” and recognise that basketball is a players’ game,” said Hinds.
The GABF will meet shortly to resolve this matter in the best interest of our affiliates, sponsors, clubs, fans and the image of basketball in Guyana.

“My expectation is that the 2016 National Club Championship Final will be replayed using the best referees locally and from the Caribbean region,” Hinds stated.