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After further review of “shoe-pal-pal” incident that occurred during Wednesday’s game between Barako Bull and SMB, the Office of the Commissioner has fined Rico Maierhofer PHP20,000.
The act, according to the Commissioner is the move was “blatant misconduct that disrespects and mocks the game and unprofessional in nature.”
While there is nothing about using a shoe to block a shot or a pass in the current PBA guidebook, according to the statement released by the office of the commissioner, “present game rules are broad enough to cover the act of Rico Maierhofer. While not among those acts specifically prohibited by existing rules, said act can be considered to be in breach of the general conduct of games. Hence it can be considered a technical foul for using a foreign object as an aid in performing an offensive or defensive move.”
Earlier, Maierhofer’s “shoe-pal-pal” confused PBA officials. The Barako Bull player was able to get away without any immediate calls from the referees.
He was summoned to the Commissioner’s office on Thursday to explain his side, and finally appeared before Chito Salud on Friday afternoon to explain his side.
