UNRULY FANS THREATEN MBA FINALS
Manila, Oct. 15, 1998 - Commissioner Ramon Fernandez of the Metropolitan Basketball Association appealed yesterday to fans of both the Negros Slashers and the Pampanga Dragons - finalists in the MBA title playoffs - to avoid any rowdy behavior that could mar the best-of-seven series which begins Saturday in Bacolod City.
"Let us not taint the series with any untoward incident which we may all regret later on," said Fernandez, referring to the debris-throwing which marred the conference regional finals between Negros an Cebu last weekend. Fernandez said Filipino fans should take this as an opportunity "to show everybody that we are a civilized nation."
"In the same way that team owners spend and players make sacrifice, us spectators should make it our responsibility to behave and see to it that everything remains wholesome for the sake of the youth who look to us as role models," Fernandez said.
The MBA Commissioner said that civilian agents will be posted among the crowd to apprehend violators while security at the gates will be tight. Spectators will be frisked and objects that maybe thrown into the court will be confiscated.
Coins and other debris rained the hardcourt of the University of St. La Salle gym in Bacolod City during the Cebu-Negros conference finals as an angry, overflow crowd reacted to a controversial call. Cebu players dashed for safety in their dugout at the height of the incident.
Only pleas for calm and sobriety and the threat of holding the games behind closed doors made the crowd behave.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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