‘Basketbrawl’ punishment could have been tougher
Anyone who has seen the video of the recent brawl involving players and fans at a Monessen-Clairton boys basketball game in Clairton knows it was a shameful, disgusting display.
WPIAL officials quickly expressed their revulsion with the goings-on, and they just as quickly scheduled a hearing with the aim of doling out punishment for those involved. But, we wonder, did it go far enough?
For those who haven’t seen the video of the brawl, it began with a fight between two players, then grew quickly to include other players on the floor, players coming off the benches and fans coming out of the stands to throw punches.
“It was ugly,” said WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley. “It was alarming to the degree at which (the brawl) occurred. There were some that were hellbent on creating havoc.”
On Monday, the WPIAL called together representatives from the two schools and, after a closed-door session, handed down its punishment.
The WPIAL put both schools on five years of probation. Any violations of that probation will result in the “denial of championship rights” and a loss of scheduling for two years.
The organization also ordered each player who left either team’s bench during the fight will be suspended for one game, with two being held out per game during the upcoming playoffs, thereby allowing the teams enough players to compete. It was left to the schools to determine which players left the benches. That might seem like allowing the fox to guard the henhouse, but it would be difficult for the WPIAL to comb through all of the video evidence making the rounds on social media to identify the guilty parties.
Further, Monessen and Clairton will be limited to 30 adult presale tickets for the upcoming playoff games, and the teams will not be permitted to play at home. No tickets will be sold at the gate at the game locations. Also, Clairton, for the next two years, will have to play its home games at 4 in the afternoon, and if Monessen and Clairton play in boys basketball over the next two years, those games will be afternoon affairs, with no fans permitted.
After the hearing, Monessen athletic director Gina Naccarato told our Luke Campbell her school accepted the punishment.
“That’s the decision they made,” said Naccarato. “We have to abide by the sanctions they gave us.”
Monessen boys basketball coach Joe Salvino told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he respected the verdict, as well.
However, two days later, at the Monessen school board meeting, Superintendent Leanne Spazak said she did not believe the punishment was commensurate with Monessen’s involvement in the brawl, and the district was appealing the decision to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
“We already put forth discipline to all of the parties that we thought were involved on our side,” Spazak said.
We don’t believe the schools should be left to decide what punishment should be doled out for this embarrassing affair. We also wonder why the players on the floor who started the whole thing appear to be getting off scot-free, at least as far as the WPIAL is concerned. The schools might have punished those players, but the WPIAL should have imposed its own, and probably harsher, penalties.
It’s also our hope that local police who are investigating the brawl are able to identify those who came out of the stands and got involved, and that those people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Finally, we wonder if this whole mess could have been minimized if the officials assigned to the Monessen-Clairton game stepped in sooner when players first started jawing at one another, and taken better control of the situation.
Whatever penalties end up being imposed, it’s certainly a blot on the reputations of everyone involved.