Complaints, assaults and a knife: Tarragona basketball in a state of panic over a coach

TarragonaTensions between Tarragona's basketball clubs have skyrocketed in recent weeks and some clubs admit to being terrified of facing a team that almost every game it plays ends up like the rosario de la Aurora. This is FarLaw Sports, a team from La Canonja led by the lawyer David Peña. In just four weeks, this Tarragona coach of lower categories has accumulated one incident after another: he has been sent off the field at least twice; he has been reported for assaulting a boy from the public who had insulted him; he has thrown a chair in the middle of the field according to the referee's report, and he has been sanctioned for making a player who did not have a registration play.

The protagonist, David Peña, says that he is suffering "referee persecution" and that if he has to resort to justice he will do so without a doubt. The tension is such that many clubs fear playing against his team and the referees do not want to whistle at his games. The pressure on the Catalan Basketball Federation is increasing every week and at least two clubs are already considering taking legal action.

The first episode was on January 26 in a match against Club Bàsket Valls. Before the second period had finished, the referee called a technical foul on him for kicking a wastepaper basket and for entering the court to criticize him for a decision he had made. When he received the technical, Peña became even angrier and threw a chair in the middle of the court. The referee gave him a second technical and, according to the report, Peña pointed towards the stands and asked him if he wanted to be hung "up there." The coach, who denies all these accusations, was sanctioned and temporarily suspended, so he had to go as a spectator at the next match, when someone reported that one of the FarLaw Sports players was playing without the corresponding registration. Following the complaint, the club was sanctioned.

Peña claims that a white player was called a "fucking black"

On February 22, when he had already served his suspension from matches, Peña returned to Joana Ballart to play a match against Valls. A FarLaw Sports player committed a harsh foul against a Valls player and a member of the public, according to the referee's report, called her "rude". Peña claims that in reality they called her "fucking black" and asked for the match to be suspended until the Mossos d'Esquadra came and the racism protocol was activated. No one on the court understood anything because, apart from the fact that no one heard any racist shouts, the player who had committed the foul was white. The match was stopped and the club itself called the Mossos d'Esquadra, but when the complainants arrived they had already left. Peña filed a complaint against CB Valls for a hate crime.

The assault with an alleged knife

That same afternoon, another of the three FarLaw teams had a match against Club Basket Altafulla. Once again, coach David Peña was expelled by the referee for receiving two technical fouls, the last for having pushed one of his players during a time-out. Angry, the coach decided to withdraw the team (as he had done a few hours earlier in Valls) and, while he was leaving, according to the version of CB Altafulla and the City Council, "a spectator insulted him." The statement continues: "In response, the visiting coach went towards the young man and violently attacked him, leaving him stunned. Following this aggression, a riot arose in which another person hit the visiting coach. There are witnesses who claim that the coach even took a knife out of his pocket."

The coach, who is on sick leave following the blows, filed a complaint in the El Vendrell courts, claiming that a municipal security guard from Altafulla grabbed him by the neck to restrain him while three people assaulted him. One of them, according to the complaint, "was carrying a knife." Both CB Valls and CB Altafulla and at least one other club that prefers not to appear in this article are considering whether to also file a complaint. The person who has already filed a complaint is the boy from the public who received the punch during the Altafulla match.

In addition to his behaviour on the pitch, the clubs also fear social media, where he is even more targeted. Responding to a boy who criticised them on Instagram for "causing problems" in every field where they go, the FarLaw profile wrote that "revenge is served cold and with patience" and added that "never again will any of you be able to walk down the street in peace because those who kill by the sword, die by the sword." The Catalan Basketball Federation has preferred not to make any statements.