Basketball: Henare to get help paying fine

New Zealand Breaker Paul Henare might not end up out of pocket despite being fined by the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) for a halftime outburst last weekend.

Skipper Henare used some choice words to lambaste the refereeing and the opposition during a match the Sydney Kings won 130-113 in Auckland.

He was deemed to have contravened the ANBL's policy preventing players from being critical of the refereeing and was slapped with a A$2000 ($2150) fine.

The Breakers said today that the club would pay part of the fine, with Henare coming up with the rest.

However, some fans were expected to organise collections of donations at the Breakers home double-header against Perth on Friday and Sunday.

Club chairman Burton Shipley said the issue of Henare's outburst was effectively over.

He said he met Henare before training this morning and the Tall Black acknowledged that he had gone too far.

"He's accepted his responsibility," he told NZPA.

"As far as we're concerned, Paul is a good enough player and a smart enough leader to realise you pay the price when you go too far."

Shipley said he was confident there would not be a repeat performance from Henare.

"I have the utmost faith in him as our skipper and I'm sure he will learn the lesson.

"He was frustrated at the time and probably got caught out a little bit."

In a halftime interview, Henare had said: "These referees are just doing a ---- job at the moment.

"They're giving a bit too much respect to these Kings, you know, they're arrogant -----s. We want to come out and get an even game, and we can't even get that on our home court."

Asked if club management agreed with the gist, if not the language, of Henare's complaint, Shipley said the Breakers had expressed concerns to the ANBL about refereeing.

He said there was a perception that the Breakers were not getting the close decisions go their way like other sides were.

"I think the Australian teams at home in Australia do better in the 50-50 calls than we do," he said.

"It's unscientific. It's just my feeling. There were a few things that went on on Saturday night that were over the top."

Shipley said one thing the ANBL could look at was whether they had the right group working together when they chose their team of three referees for a match.

Earlier today, Henare said his comments were out of order, but frustration had been building up over a few weeks.

"Unfortunately, that's what came out at the time," he told Radio Sport.

"I regret how I said it. I guess the message I was trying to get across is we're not looking for any favours, we just want an even playing field."

- NZPA