Bonn-Bamberg basketball brawl
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The Bonn-Bamberg basketball brawl describes a violent altercation between players of the German Bundesliga clubs Telekom Baskets Bonn and GHP Bamberg which took place in the 2006 BBL playoff series on May 4, 2006. Fourteen players were ejected, and one fouled out, making that game the probably only playoff game in professional basketball history that ended as a 3-on-4 match.
The match was instantly panned as the worst farce in German basketball history.
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[edit] The Disturbance
The second match of the playoff series between Bonn and Bamberg was played in Bonn. With Bonn trailing 14-21 after 13 minutes, Uvis Helmanis (Bamberg) committed a hard foul against Michael Meeks (Bonn) without the referees whistling. In the next play, Meeks scythed Helmanis, prompting Steffen Hamann (Bamberg) to face Meeks and punch him to the ground.
In the following bench-clearing melee, almost every player and many members of the staff stormed onto the hardwood, turning the place into a battlefield. Twenty minutes passed before the referees could restore order. They expelled 13 players, so that the game could only carry on as a 4-on-5 with Bamberg being short-handed.
The Bamberg team used a 2:2 zone defense against the Bonn team, who were in a perpetual power play situation. It worked surprisingly well, as long as the four players still had some energy left. The Bonn team had the extremely weird privilege of being able to use a libero, but were unable to capitalize on this until the last quarter: the shorthanded Bamberg team led 45-30 at half time, managed to end the third quarter still in front with 52-50 and took a 61-60 lead minutes away from the end, however, then exhaustion took its toll. Bonn drained shot after shot and shut down Bamberg's offense, because of the advantage of the extra player.
The match reached its absurd climax seconds before the game ended. A Bamberg player fouled out, and the Bamberg coach Dirk Bauermann is sent off after his second technical foul for swearing at the referees. In frustration, the sent-off Bamberg player pushed another Bonn player, and he shoved him back in retaliation. The referees ejected the Bonn player also, and the match would end as a 3-on-4 with Bonn winning 75-64.
[edit] Suspensions and criminal charges
Most of the players avoided long bans, but Helmanis, Meeks and Hamann received longer bans lasting up to six matches.
[edit] Public reaction
In Germany, basketball is a sport which receives only little media coverage, overshadowed by more popular sports such as soccer, handball, motor sports, field hockey, cycling or ice hockey. Therefore, public reaction was next to none.
