One of the biggest no-no’s in any
company is for its employees to be found doing work outside the office for
another company in the same line of business. The same principle holds true
with athletes of a professional sports league, in that the players of its
constituent teams cannot just go and participate in another league’s games, at
least without permission from their contracted squads. Such permission is already
required for non-pro games such as national representation in regional or international
tournaments; what more if the competition pays? Two PBA players learned the consequences
of such overreach last week.
CNN Philippines reports that the Philippine Basketball Association
(PBA) confirmed the suspensions of two players by their respective home teams
following the discovery that they played competitively in another league even
if just for a single game. This development was revealed during the PBA Media
Day press conference held last week on Thursday, February 27. Said errant
players are Jio Jalalon (G) of the Magnolia Hotshots and Vic Manuel (F) of the
Alaska Aces. League commissioner Willie Marcial relates that Manuel and Jalaon
were summoned to his office after they were caught playing for a community game
that same week.
As such, both erring players have
been hit with a fine worth P50,000 each from their respective salaries and one
month off from playing for their teams, without pay. As Marcial points, out,
these penalties were imposed by the Alaska and Magnolia teams on their own
initiative against Manuel and Jalalon respectively. If they did not act
however, then the league itself would have taken action, with far more drastic
consequences. Repeat offense of this nature, notes the PBA commissioner, would
see a P75,000 fine instead, as well as a hearing on whether to boot both
players from the league.
Willie Marcial also needed to clarify
that the PBA has no bans on their players to play for community games. They
need only to request formal permission from both their parent teams and the
league overall, as activity outside the player’s regular PBA commitments need
to be subject to conditions.
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