Adrian Frater, News Editor
Western Bureau:

Montego Bay Boys Club Warriors became the first disciplinary casualty of the 2009 Western Basketball Association (WBA) Lucozade Sport men's championship last weekend when they were expelled from the competition and slapped with a $5,000 fine for breaching the rules.

The action against the Warriors stemmed from comments made by players and team officials to match officials and WBA executives, following their contentious game against Railway Tigers on Saturday, April 18, at Montego Bay Cricket Club.

"There are three distinct avenues available to teams within the rules, if they wish to comment about the officiating," said WBA vice-president, Deon Williams.

"The Warriors chose to ignore these and instead aired their complaints as they left the court as the game ended and with statements laced with obscenities and disrespect, which is both improper and unacceptable."

The sanction against the Warriors represented the maximum punishment that could have been handed down.

Williams said their behaviour was so serious that the WBA felt it had no choice but to levy the maximum punishment.

"Whilst we understand that the current basketball championship is an emotional one that has stirred the passion of both our fans and our teams, we simply cannot allow clubs to blatantly disregard our rules," said Williams. "We have, therefore, dealt with this matter as expediently as possible to allow the focus to revert to what is a thrilling and memorable season."

The penalty to expel the Warriors have not significantly impacted the organisation as according to club director, David Earle, the management of the basketball team had already taken a decision to withdraw the team.

"We are unaware of the latest situation because a decision had already been taken to withdraw the team," said Earle. "The decision to withdraw was as a result of what the team felt was unfair treatment against them."

Meanwhile, in the latest round of matches, which were played at the weekend, Railway Tigers, behind an impressive 18 points and 17 rebounds by Tammy Davis, spanked Wolfpack 59-39, while Central Flames crushed Junior Avalanche 85-62.