Basketball: Waikato coach defends Strother

By Peter Jessup

Waikato Warriors basketball coach Jeff Green went into bat for forward Riki Strother yesterday while the Waikato association investigated the player's clash with a spectator.

"Riki Strother beat me to it. I would have liked to knock the bloke out myself," Green said of the altercation that came near the end of Waikato's game against the visiting American Junior College Athletic Association All-star team at the weekend.

The fan, who Green described as "a big-mouthed American who I guess got a little over-patriotic since we were playing an American team," has yet to lay any complaint. Strother was cited by another spectator, Huntly Basketball Association board member David Gilgen, who alleged Strother grabbed the man around the neck with both hands then withdrew one and pulled back a fist as if to throw a punch.

Green said the spectator had heckled his team throughout the match.

"I'm not saying Riki was right to do what he did. I can take abuse, so can he, when it is directed at you personally. But when that abuse is directed against your wife and family - well, where do you draw the line?"

The incident should have been handled by removing the abuser, Green said.

"Spectators cannot expect to turn up and hurl abuse with impunity."

Green said a measure of the intensity of the supposed victim's provocation came when he followed the Waikato team to their locker-room after the game, calling then ill-disciplined, among other things.