PN Whip suspended from basketball

Nationalist Parliamentary Whip David Agius was yesterday suspended for a month from all activities organised by the Malta Basketball Association after a disciplinary board found him guilty of passing “abusive or offensive” remarks at referees during a match last weekend.

A disciplinary board convened yesterday found Mr Agius in breach of a specific article of the association’s disciplinary code.

He was suspended for one month from all MBA activities, including matches of Siġġiewi basketball club, of which he is president.

Moreover, “for the same offences but in Mr Agius’ capacity as MBA vice president”, the disciplinary commissioner forwarded his verdict to the association’s Presidents’ Council for “action”.

Mr Agius was only elected to the post in March after a change to the statute allowed parliamentarians to occupy such a post.

The incident in question took place last week during a match between Siġġiewi and Athleta Basketball Association. Siġġiewi won the match 142-138 to lift the Louis Borg Cup.

Several witnesses who testified before the disciplinary commission yesterday said they heard Mr Agius repeatedly telling the referees in Maltese: “If you’re not capable (of refereeing) , don’t come here” while they were making their way to the dressing room.

One of the three referees controlling the match testified that he wanted to stop the match but the game commissioner decided against, unless Mr Agius repeated the abuse.

The disciplinary action was taken following a letter of complaint sent to the MBA by David Schembri, the general secretary of Athleta Basketball Association, who claimed Mr Agius’s insults aimed at the game officials affected their judgment during the rest of the match.

In the letter, Mr Schembri said that what Mr Agius had done was “highly unethical, improper and against the spirit of the game. It is even more worrisome that (Mr Agius) followed the game officials and continued to insult (them) on their way to the changing rooms at the half-time interval, at which point he implied that they were not fit to officiate the game and also implied that when the proper officials officiate the games which Siġġiewi take part in, Siġġiewi always win.”

When contacted yesterday, Mr Agius said he was considering appealing against the decision which, he insisted, was the “least (serious) charge” he could have faced. Other charges of threatening or insulting game officials were not levelled, he said.

Although he did not repeat his original claim that Athleta Basketball Association’s complaint was “sour grapes” because it had lost the match, Mr Agius said he “wondered whose hand was behind all this”. He also said a charge on passing remarks had opened a can of worms for future competitive matches.

This was not the first time the MP lost his cool during a basketball match. In November 2009, two policemen had to intervene to calm down Mr Agius, who was using obscene language.