SCUAA bans NSU Tigers for 2 years

by BiliranIsland.com Staff
Published 12:53 AM, October 27, 2016
Updated 10:50 PM, November 3, 2016

UPDATE: NSU creates investigating body to probe SCUAA cheating

NAVAL, Biliran – The campaign for another championship title by the NSU men’s basketball team ended just after their first game, after being found out to have violated an SCUAA ruling.

The violation was discovered after the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) men’s basketball team filed a protest against an NSU cager named Christian Senn Laude for lack of one year residency requirement.

The violation was discovered after the EVSU men’s basketball team filed a protest against an NSU cager named Christian Senn Laude for lack of one year residency requirement.

The EVSU men’s basketball team suffered a lopsided defeat against the NSU Tigers in their encounter on Monday, October 24.

Under the SCUAA Constitution and By-Laws, specifically on the residency requirement, it says that a transferee shall be allowed to play only after having established one (1) year residency prior to the current school year. A freshman college student has not yet stablished a one year residency.

Another provision of the SCUAA rules states that athletes transferring PRISAA, SCUAA and/or LCUAA member – school to another member – school must satisfy the one (1) year residency requirement which shall be counted as playing years.

It was learned that Laude is a transferee and taking up maritime course in NSU. Under a new guideline of the College of Maritime, a new enrollee is considered.

Laude is from Ormoc City and was formerly studying in the University of San Carlos (USC) and was a player of the USC Warriors in 2014. He was also previously studying at Western Leyte College.

Laude was part of the CESAFI All-Star game in September 2014. CESAFI or Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. is a sports association of 12 schools , colleges and universities in Cebu and was established in 2001.

The EVSU men’s basketball team was hurt by what NSU has done.

According to one NSU coach, what they did was an honest mistake since they did not receive the SCUAA guidelines.

The violation did not only result in the 2-year ban for the NSU Tigers from playing in SCUAA. It also resulted in the suspension for 4 years of Rhine Sabonsolin, the NSU Tigers coach.

A new fraud

This was not the first time that NSU Tigers were involved in fraudulent acts involving their players.

In last year’s SCUAA held at Visayas State University (VSU), there was an alleged tampering of birth record of an NSU Tigers player named Jeffrey Arintok.

Arintok’s official submitted birth record was December 24, 1993, when in fact he was born on December 24, 1987. Besides, it was found out that Arintok’s submitted birth record was tampered as compared to official NSO birth record.

In the 2011 SCUAA, another allegedly fraudulent act was found out when one of the cagers of NSU Tigers from Almeria town used the school record of another NSU student for him be included in the basketball team.

A runner and table tennis player from NSU were also disqualified due to some irregularities.

Cheat

The Transcript of Records of Christian Senn Bayon Laude shows his date of birth as January 8, 1994. In fact, his birthday is January 8, 1991.

In an interview with Biliranisland.com, Rhine Sabonsolin insisted that he was not at fault for the fiasco. He pointed that the sports directors were at fault for not calling out the mistake during the screening of players. He added that he is unaware of the guidelines with regard to player residency. He was an assistant coach for a number years before assuming the coach position.

Sabonsolin claimed he had not been provided with a copy of the guidelines by Rosendo Alivio, sports director of NSU. But Alivio showed the document with the handwriting of Sabonsolin. Picture above.

Sabonsolin admitted it was his handwriting that appeared on SCUAA guidelines that Alivio presented.

He added that he discover Laude during the NSU intramural. He did not know that Laude is a varsity and a known player in CESAFI.

Contrary to the alibi that the NSU coaches had not received the guidelines,  Alivio said they were and are aware of the rules because they have coaches of the team for many years.

The EVSU, LNU and UEP were the schools that filed protests against NSU.

Suspensions

The NSU Tigers basketball team is suspended for one year SCUAA season, instead of 2 years. They were given consideration by just having 1 year penalty.

NSU basketball coach Rhine Sabonsolin and his coaching staffs Adam Bunami and Nemesio Lora were suspended for just two seasons instead of a lifetime ban.

NSU in Naval, Biliran is the host of the 2016 annual regional SCUAA and Biliran Province will also host the 2017 EVRAA on January 29 to February 4, 2017. – BiliranIsland.com