Originally published March 25, 1994
IRYMPLE has won an appeal to claim possibly the most controversial Mildura Basketball Association men’s A Grade premiership on Wednesday night after the result apparently favored their opponents.
The association yesterday “had no alternative” but to reverse Hawks five-point overtime victory into a one-point loss, after receiving a complaint from the Irymple club.
Irymple claimed that the official score sheet showed that the club was one point in front at the conclusion of the game and that the extra five minutes of overtime should never have been played.
The extra time was ordered following a three-point basket on the bell by Hawks’ Adrian Rowse which, according to the electronic scoreboard, levelled the scores.
According to Irymple sources the official score sheet was not thoroughly checked before the additional five minutes began.
They believe the club would have been awarded the premiership pennant had the official document been closely looked at.
Led by coach Craig Deckert, Hawks were able to push ahead of the final favorites in the extra time to score what his team and officials considered to be a premiership win.
However, the premiership celebrations did not last even 24 hours before the jubilation turned into disbelief.
Association general manager, Bruce Smythe, yesterday said he had gone through the score sheet “about a hundred times” and each time he came up with the same conclusion, an 84 to 85-point win to Irymple.
“I have discussed the matter with the match committee, bench chairman and scorers and there was no alternative but to award Irymple the premiership,” Mr Smythe said.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, but a miscalculation has been found and we have had to rectify it.”
Qualified scorers were used for the game and if not for new scoring sheets, which have been used only for the past few years, would not have uncovered the problem.
“We don’t use the new sheets all that much because they are complex and hard to use for scorers who aren’t sure of the procedure.
“Fortunately they were in use on Wednesday night and, following Irymple’s appeal, could be spotted right away,” Mr Smythe said.
Hawks appeared to defy the odds, as well as a slow start from coach Craig Deckert to win the grand final.
Hawks accounted for Irymple in the semi-finals and in another thrilling encounter, again appeared to have their measure on Wednesday night.
