Parents air side on CVIRAA fiasco

CEBU, Philippines - Admitting that they were badly affected by the issues raised against them, the parents of the Cebu City elementary basketball team aired their side and made some clarifications in relation to their alleged misdemeanor during the championship game of the CVIRAA Meet 2009 at the Lamberto Macias Cultural and Sports Complex in Dumaguete City.

“We just want to clarify that we did not have anything against Dumaguete but what we were more concerned of was that there were a lot of poor judgment calls by the referees and we get frustrated with the officials because they did not do something with the obvious bias judgment of the referees,” said one of the concerned parents who asked not to be named for the sake of their children in a press conference yesterday at the USC-North Campus conference room.

“We will really accept if we lose. In fact, the team were defeated in the match in Bacolod but we did not do anything wrong because there was fair judgment during the games but what happened in Dumaguete was different, there was indeed unfair judgment,” the parent added.

The parents narrated the whole side story and said that the officials were not doing anything with what they percieved as faulty officiating.

The parents were also unanimous in saying that before they left Cebu for Dumaguete, the coach briefed them that they will just only watch the games. They followed that instruction except during the championship match when they could not take the preconceived notions anymore.

“We just seated and cheered for our kids but with the obvious prejudice by the referees, we start protesting. But we did not make it while the game was going on. We made it after the game was finished,” the parent said.

Cebu City, represented by USC-North Campus, lost to the Dumagueteños, 46-54, in their gold medal match in the boys elementary basketball.

After the game, some disgruntled parents of the Cebuano hoopsters reportedly rushed to the table officials and confronted the referees with expletives and nasty remarks. So frustrated that one Cebu player even threw his shoe at the center court out of disgust after they we’re being booed by the partisan crowd while getting out of the playing venue.

As an offshot of the ugly incident, the Cebu City Niños, despite being the overall champion of the week-long sports conclave, did not enjoy a warm round of applause and got even snubbed by the rest of the delegations during the awarding ceremony.

Worse, they were admonished by DepEd-7 PESS chief Dr. Vivian Ginete for their improper conduct that somehow defeated the true purpose of CVIRAA, which is to instill in the minds of the athletes the spirit of sportmanship anchored on its very foundation of being humble in victory and gracious in defeat. – THE FREEMAN