MP loses his cool at basketball match

Spectators at a competition basketball game last Thursday witnessed what they thought was just another random argument, peppered with foul language, but were then surprised to see that one of the protagonists losing his temper was PN Parliamentary whip David Agius.

In a letter he sent to The Times, a spectator, Charles Sammut said two policemen had to intervene to calm down Mr Agius, who was using obscene language.

Another spectator, Daniela Cassar, said Mr Agius had used "a colourful array of language", adding that the altercation was "hilarious until I realised who it was". The MP yesterday admitted losing his temper after he was "provoked" by another spectator who passed a barbed comment about him having cheated in his university exams, but said he could not recall using foul language.

He said he was "not the type to use that kind of language" although he was not going to argue about whether he did so or not since he was angry and hurt at the time.

"I felt hurt, offended and insulted," he told The Times yesterday.

Asked whether he regretted losing his temper, Mr Aguis answered: "Isn't it obvious that I regret it? But afterwards everyone's sorry."

The incident took place during a game at Ta' Qali pavilion between Siġġiewi, of which club Mr Agius is president, and Sliema. At one point, a spectator, whose son plays for Sliema, passed a comment to the 41-year-old parliamentarian, who was watching the game with one of his two young daughters.

"He said: 'Why don't you go copy rather than come watch basketball.' Naturally, I reacted and told him that if he wanted to say something unrelated to sport, he should not say it there but outside," Mr Agius said.

He continued that the "wound was still fresh" since the incident happened two days after media reports that he had copied in his university exams.

The claim about him cheating in an undergraduate exam surfaced in an alleged blackmail attempt against Mr Agius just before the general election in March last year. Mr Agius opted to take the matter to the courts. However, as part of the same proceedings, the story was back in the news last week.

"Imagine if my father or mother had just died and somebody offended them. It hurts that he did it on purpose because his son's team was losing. You don't do these things in sport," he said, adding that the man repeated his "provocation" after the game, as everyone was leaving the pavilion. Attempts to contact the spectator yesterday were futile.

When it was pointed out that being a politician made him a role model and he should have kept his cool, Mr Agius answered: "Yes, but I'm also human."

Mr Agius said he always tried to keep politics and basketball separate. "Whenever I get into the Ta' Qali pavilion, I remove my political hat and don't even go to the VIP stand because I don't feel I'm anything but the club president.

"Maybe I overreacted but I also have the right to defend myself and to say that politics and sports should not be mixed," he said, adding that in five years as the Siġġiewi club's president and 25 years playing basketball, he had never had any problems.

Ms Cassar said she approached Mr Agius during the game and told him that he should be ashamed of himself for reacting like that. She said the parliamentarian put his hand on her shoulder although he denied touching her.

Later a policeman told the young woman not to provoke anyone and even took her particulars, but Mr Agius yesterday said he gave instructions for no action to be taken against her.