Rampton, Homik Cleared
Tagged in: NBL
Following an appeal by the ecogise Nelson Giants against the automatic suspension imposed on Tony Rampton due to being evicted from the game on Tuesday night, a decision has been reached by the NBL Judicial Commissioner to clear both Tony Rampton and Mike Homik to play in game two of the final series tonight in Te Awamutu.
The Giants appeal centred around the referees’ report from the incident stating that punches had been thrown, yet TV evidence showed that this was not the case.
The NBL Judicial Commissioner, Barry Wilson, found as follows;
“The incident was of a straightforward tussle for position between two centres, was off the ball and no punches or other illegal actions were apparent. The players got entangled, finished up on the floor and all the resulting arm movement etc appeared to be more in the act of disengaging from each other than anyting else.”
“As a result I find the issuing of ‘disqualifying fouls’ to be excessive and the subsequent compulsory disqualification from the next game to be an unecessarily harsh penalty. A simple foul call and a warning to tone down the physical struggle would have been sufficient.”
“Both players involved, Homik & Rampton are therefore cleared to play in the next game of the NBL.
This will be welcoming especially for the Giants who will need their leading rebounder Rampton in the do or die match in Te Awamutu tonight.
Game Two
Thursday, June 25
At Te Awamutu Event Centre, Te Awamutu
Waikato Pistons v ecogise Nelson Giants, 7.00pm
Live on Sky Sport 3
Referees - Dallas Pickering, Andy Thackray, Melony Wealleans
