Macerata, 2 December 2024 – Match suspended and two steering wheels from the police yesterday of PalaVirtus of Macerata due to a brawl that arose during the basketball match. A 17-year-old referee was pushed, four players were sent off and the match ended behind closed doors, under the supervision of officials.
On the program was the regional division 2 match, which pitted the boys from Macerata Basketball against those of Montegranaro.
The latter had a slight advantage but during the course of the match, also due to some refereeing decisions contested by both sides, the tension continued to grow, both on the pitch and in the stands. The climax came when a Montegranaro player pushed one of the two referees, causing him to end up on the pitchside table.
At that point the situation worsened with several people entered the fieldsome to take it out on the players and managers, some to try to calm things down, while from the stands the audience – made up mostly of the kids’ parents and grandparents – contributed to heating up the atmosphere. The Montegranaro player who had pushed the referee, even though it already was expelledhad remained on the pitch, and hearing the comments of the home fans he also headed towards them, fortunately stopped before things degenerated further.
Alarmed, the referees, both very young, asked for police intervention to make sure that no further unfortunate incidents occurred. And two police cars arrived from the police station to keep the heated situation under control. In the end the crowd was let out and the match – which was now coming to an end – was finished behind closed doors.
Four players of Montegranaro were expelled: in addition to the one who had pushed the referee, three who had gotten up from the benches to intervene in the brawl on the court were also removed, behavior prohibited by the basketball rules even if you get up to separate two litigants. The home team was given ten free throws, with which Macerata ultimately clinched the victory.
What happened will also have repercussions outside the field, given that after the report of the referees on the incident there could be further sanctions for the players involved, based on what will be assessed by the sports judge.
The Regional Division 2 championship is the first senior, typically contested by kids around 18, but in theory open to all ages. As for the referees, last night they were also very young, in particular the one who was pushed was a 17 year old.
