One week after the National Basketball League Tribunal heard a case against Jacob Holmes (Townsville Crocodiles) for tripping, a second case regarding Larry Davidson (Wollongong Hawks) came before it today.
Whilst Holmes came away from his alleged trip of Wollongong's Tyson Demos unscathed, Davidson was not as fortunate in his incident with Sydney Kings guard Ben Madgen. Davidson was found guilty of the charge of tripping and will cop a $1,500 fine.
The tribunal findings indicated:
The finding of the Tribunal is that the reported player fell to the floor in a rebound situation. As a result of that fall the player was on the floor and was very close to the feet of Ben Madgen as he went to run up the floor. That player continued to run, that is directly over the player on the floor.The umpire Brett Hogan told the Tribunal he was unsure if there had been any contact by Ben Madgen as he ran by Larry Davidson but that he had seen a grab with the left arm around the leg of the player. He explained to the Tribunal that he was unsure at the time if the player Ben Madgen had stepped on the player on the floor or if his leg had made contact with the body of Larry Davidson. The player Ben Madgen told the Tribunal he had not made any contact with the player on the floor and felt a hold on his leg around the shin which as he continued to move slipped down to his foot.Larry Davidson in his statement to the Tribunal said he saw the leg of the player and he attempted to deflect any contact to him. The Tribunal did not accept the explanation given by the player and formed the view that the player grabbed the lower leg and foot of the player Ben Madgen which tripped the player who subsequently fell. The Tribunal accepted that this action of grabbing the leg was not a premeditated action on the part of the player but rather a reaction to the situation in the game. The contact in the view of the Tribunal could not be described as accidental.
The tribunal took into account the fact that Davidson had not been previously reported during his nine years in the league and contributes to the community.
