Aussies say Castro's ballplayers will get a chilly reception at Olympics
By DAVID CARRIGG, Edmonton Sun. Tuesday, August 15, 2000.
Cuba's senior baseball team can expect a chilly reception in Australia next month as word of Edmonton's basebrawl fiasco spreads Down Under.
"It's big news at home - the baseball community is furious," said Aussie Tom Robinson, who witnessed last Saturday's bat-swinging battle between the junior Cuban and Australian teams at Edmonton's 2000 World Youth AAA Baseball Championships.
That means no shrimp on the barbie, no ice-cold Fosters and no "how ya goin' mate" for Cuban baseball players.
"Cuba's senior team will be in Sydney for the Olympic Games next month and they won't be too popular," Robinson added.
Bob McMahon, who ran last year's Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, said the violence could have been prevented if there were cops at the Edmonton tournament.
"We had police at our games at all times. One time we didn't have them deployed correctly and an anti-Castro Cuban made it though the dressing room doors and onto the field," McMahon said. "He wandered around shouting and was eventually punched by the Cuban third base coach. Any
time there's an international tournament you need at least a minimal police presence. There are issues at an international tournament that you don't get on a provincial level, like language and temperament."
Wes Bellmore, spokesman for the Edmonton Police Service, said cops would have laid charges after the brawl but were not asked to.
"With evidence of an assault it wouldn't have mattered if it was sports-related or not. Baseball is a non-contact sport," Bellmore said.
The Cuban team left Edmonton yesterday morning, minus two players who defected.
Ron Hayter, tournament spokesman, said they weren't required under International Baseball Federation regulations to provide police at the tournament.
"There were no police at the field, we are not required to," Hayter said. "But we've never had an incident like this before."
Hayter added tournament director and IBF member Gaston Panaye would seek further penalties for both teams during an executive committee meeting later this month.
The IBF technical committee suspended both team coaches and a Cuban player after the incident.
Robinson said it was only Cuban players that used bats in the dugout brawl.
"The Australian coach had his hand bitten, a boy had his hand badly bruised after protecting his head from a bat and another boy has a black eye," Robinson said.
"Some of the Cubans got hit too but they were the only ones with bats." | 