Is the PBA’s loss the CBDL’s gain?

Could the newly formed league of former college and PBA coach Joe Lipa gain from the planned transfer of the Cagayan Rising Valley Suns?

After officially submitting their official statement of leaving the PBA D-League, it looks like the ballclub is standing pat on their decision to jump to the new league of Lipa.

It will be recalled that the PBA cracked the whip on Cagayan Valley head coach Alvin Pua for punching league referee Ben Montero in a game against the Livermarine Guardians last May 14 at the Ynares Sports Center by fining him a record P500,000 and imposing a lifetime ban on the controversial coach.

Apparently the PBA took into consideration his history of altercations in handing out the decision, something which did not sit well with the Cagayan Valley management.

The team’s manager Frederick Collado stood by Pua and stressed that his emotions got the better of him and added that it was simply a show of how protective he is of his players.

“Kung ganyan lang din lang ang officiating, mabuti pang umalis nalang kami. Kung hindi ka na masaya, bakit mag-ii-stay ka pa?” was quoted as saying after the sorry incident. (Tempo Sports)

After the fines and penalties were meted, Collado issued an apology.

“There is no excuse for the incident last Thursday,” said Cagayan Valley team manager Frederic Collado in a statement Sunday.

“We are sorry it happened. Coach Alvin’s emotions got the best of him.” (Inquirer)

Strangely, it seems that Cagayan Valley already had plans of leaving the league even before the incident.

This is with reference to Lipa’s claims (via the Manila Standard) that the team had already submitted their application weeks before the punching incident involving Pua ever happened.

The next step the PBA is taking right now is to request the SBP to ban the temperamental coach. The CBDL could ask approval from the SBP before it would allow Pua to coach in the league. If the SBP does ban Pua from all SBP sanctioned events, it could be hard for the former PBA player and San Sebastian Stag to pursue his coaching career.

Will Lipa and the CBDL gain from Cagayan Valley’s transfer?

Apparently the move of Cagayan Valley should be good for the CBDL. It means that another team will help their roster of participating teams. But is coach Joe ready for the repercussions knowing the history of Cagayan Valley as far as quality of officiating is concerned?

Any league or referee for that matter is not perfect. Some may say referees are siding with the opposing team especially if calls do not come their way. What if the Rising Suns find the officiating poor as well? Would we see an outburst (or worse) of the same kind?

There is no such thing as a perfectly officiated game. But this is not to protect erring referees, a lot of who do so in various leagues. The issue here is would you go as far as physically abusing a game official?

There are proper ways to go about it. Talking to the commissioner is one thing or using sane means.

Pua’s actions were uncalled for. What made it worse was the fact that it wasn’t the first one.

Also, what do you call his constant defiance to appear in front of the league commissioner? Was this not a sign of disrespect as a whole? Pua never appeared whenever something untoward happened, a clear sign of defiance and utter disrespect.

If Pua ends up being banned in any SBP-sanctioned league, it should not be surprising. No one is above in any league or the law for that matter.

For his actions on Montero, erring or not, he should be charged with some physical injury or assault for his actions if due process is followed. Hooliganism simply has no place in the world of sports, sadly what Pua has molded himself into.