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It was clearly a won game.  The San Beda Red Lions completely walked over the heads of the College of St. Benilde Blazers last July 18, 2008.  Until the infraction report came, wherein Sam Ekwe wore the wrong jersey.  I didn’t notice the difference, not even current league commissioner Joe Lipa  AND would you believe, Henry Atayde of CSB didn’t notice the deviation.

Uniform issues are nothing new in this league nor the other (UAAP).  Other NCAA sporting events are no exception to  this anomaly, uniform issues are in abundance.  Since basketball is the most popular sport in the land, too bad that it had to be a very big deal.

The NCAA Mancom has set guidelines, like the limit in sponsorship placements, and color (because San Sebastian and Mapua apparently have almost the same color scheme) in each team uniform including the design edition for the season.  The above photos will tell the similarity between what Sam Ekwe wore in Season 83 (in  Red/dark jersey above) and the jersey he used in the game against the Blazers.

The official San Beda Red Lions jersey design for Season 84 is shown below with Pong Escobal as the example.   I believe one of the issues lie in the Talk and Text logo placement.  They suspected and then verified that Sam Ekwe used his Season 83 Bantay Bata uniform.

24 hours from now, College of St. Benilde will make a decision on whether to  continue the protest or not.    Take note that I mentioned “will make a decisionâ€?, because firstly, it wasn’t CSB that insisted to file the infraction, it was the NCAA Mancom Chairman that did the paper work.  If you are worried about the timing,  the violation was filed after the score sheets were verified and signed by both teams.

Here are excepts from the FIBA Basketball rule book to help you appreciate and make your own judgment on the infraction:.

June 2006 Page 14 of 83 OFFICIAL BASKETBALL RULES 2006 Rule Three - Teams

4.3 Uniforms

4.3.1 The uniform of the team members shall consist of:

• Shirts of the same dominant colour front and back. All players must tuck their shirts into their playing shorts. ‘All-in-ones’ are permitted.
• T-shirts, regardless of style, may not be worn under shirts unless the player has written medical permission. If such permission has been granted, the T-shirt must be of the same dominant colour as the shirt.

• Shorts of the same dominant colour front and back, but not necessarily of the same colour as the shirts.
• Undergarments that extend below the shorts may be worn provided they are of the same dominant colour as the shorts.

4.3.2 Each team member shall wear a shirt numbered on the front and back with plain numbers, of a solid colour contrasting with the colour of the shirt.

The numbers shall be clearly visible and:

• Those on the back shall be at least twenty (20) cm high.
• Those on the front shall be at least ten (10) cm high.
• The numbers shall be at least two (2) cm wide.
• Teams shall use numbers from four (4) to fifteen (15). National federations have the authority to approve, for their competitions, any other numbers with a maximum of two (2) digits.
• Players on the same team shall not wear the same number.

• Any advertising or logo shall be at least five (5) cm away from the numbers.

4.3.3 Teams must have a minimum of two sets of shirts and:

• The first team named in the programme (home team) shall wear light-coloured shirts (preferably white).
• The second team named in the programme (visiting team) shall wear dark-coloured shirts.
• However, if the two teams involved agree, they may interchange the colours of the shirts.

In a phone conversation with Mr. Atayde, I even told him that this issue will definitely put him on the Bedans most wanted list of people to hate and ridicule during games.  But he assured me that he had always wanted to follow the old saying in all of sports – let us win games on the court or on the filed, not inside the board room.

Mr. Atayde even told me that even the NCAA Policy Board would rule in favor of San Beda, he would not bother question nor appeal to the NCAA policy board to reverse the issue.

The most noticeable statement during our conversation was that Mr. Atayde even reiterated that he has placed the fate on the infraction issue on the table for the CSB Basketball Team to decide.

Sam Ekwe played with the Same number, name and color in the game. 24 hours and counting.

Tags: Henry-Atayde, NCAA-Mancom, NCAA-Season-84, Sam-Ekwe

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