Watch: Match official who joined Starlites’ KO celebrations facing disciplinary proceedings

The Malta Basketball Association has opened disciplinary proceedings against a match official who was caught on TV footage celebrating with the Starlites following their victory in the Knock Out final against Hibernians on Sunday.

TV footage showed Denise Houiller, who was acting as Scorer in the match, standing up from the table of match officials and joining Starlites players and officials during their celebrations after winning the KO final 75-74.

The Malta Basketball Association said it considered Houiller’s behaviour as being unprofessional and has opened disciplinary proceedings against her.

“The Malta Basketball Association is aware of this incident and disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against the person in question,” the local governing body said in a statement.

Sources close to the MBA told the Times of Malta that the job of a Scorer has no bearing or effect on the outcome of the match and the only responsibility is to input match data, such as baskets, fouls, timeouts, substitutions on the digital scoresheet.

All this information may,  in senior level games, also be verified with the statisticians who also record such data.

Sources also said that, although they considered Houllier’s actions to be inappropriate and unjustifiable, the basketball community in Malta is so small that it is nearly impossible to engage persons for certain roles without any connection whatsoever to the local club scene.

Sunday’s Knock Out final has already stirred a lot of controversy following the incident which saw Starlites coach Paul Ferrante tripping Hibernians player Derek Brown when he attempted to charge forward with the ball.

Ferrante was suspended until March 31 for misconduct while Brown received a much heavier sanction – a one year suspension – after he was found guilty of making serious allegations against the Malta Basketball Association as well as the match officials on social media.

Brown has appealed the decision and the case will be heard in the coming days.