Narvasa felt ‘bothered’ suspending erring refs for 15 games

PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa was not a big fan of suspending two of his referees after the controversial Globalport-Ginebra quarterfinals match. In fact, the PBA boss felt bad giving the game officials such punishment.

“That’s why it bothered me, sa nangyari sa suspension sa dalawang referees,” Narvasa said Wednesday during a press briefing at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “It bothered me a lot.”

Referees Edward Aquino and Rommel Gruta were suspended after two missed calls in the closing seconds of the quarterfinals game between Globalport and Ginebra that the Batang Pier won 84-83.

READ: PBA suspends refs for non-calls in GlobalPort-Ginebra KO match

Gruta had the responsibility of calling a 5-second ball-hogging violation while Aquino’s job was to call the backing violation on Globalport guard Stanley Pringle.

The PBA Commissioner’s Office suspended the two referees for the rest of the PBA Philippine Cup, which equals to 15 games.

Narvasa compared the referee’s situation to that of a player who missed a chance to win the game for his team by botching a freethrow or a coach who failed to lead his team to the victory.

“Wala pa akong nakikitang coach na natalo sa game na sinuspend, player na nag mintis ng free throw,” Narvasa said. “We emphasize with them but they’ve never been suspended for losing a game.”