Tremaine Shaw wonders why he ever got involved in the brawl.
He’s got even more questions concerning the ensuing sanctions.
Days after being exiled from basketball, Warriors’ talented 21-year-old point guard still has issues surrounding the fairness of his life ban after deeming the ruling of the disciplinary committee too harsh – especially for a first-time offender.
“I know I have no one else to blame but myself for my actions, and I’m so sorry that the incident ever occurred, but to be banned for life? I think it’s just not fair,” said Shaw in an interview with NATIONSPORT yesterday.
“And as a first-time offender that is a bit rough, especially when other people had similar charges and only got a year.?So what made me so different that I got life?
“All this is really heartbreaking because basketball is my life, and having all the hard work I’ve put in for my life to be gone because of less than five minutes of fighting is just killing me,” he added.
His life ban was just the latest fallout of a highly publicized bench-clearing brawl between Warriors and Cougars, which also resulted in Shaw’s older brother and fellow Warriors guard, Kirk, receiving the maximum penalty.
The sport’s disciplinary committee handed down five other sanctions, ranging from a one-year ban to a pair of six-game suspensions, in the wake of the second fracas to bring a premature end to a basketball game in 11 months.
Five of the seven sanctioned players are registered with Warriors, who have decided to appeal all but Kirk Shaw’s punishment even with video footage providing unflattering evidence of the younger Shaw’s actions.
But the committee took into consideration the age of the younger Shaw – widely considered a future national player – along with the time he would have to rehabilitate and ruled that his sentence be reviewed within five years.
However, Shaw still considers that time away from the game to be excessive.
“Honestly, after five years? I don’t believe I would even think about ever returning to the court if the sport I love so much could discard me just like that,” Shaw reasoned.
“I mean, I love basketball, and I want to apologize to the whole Barbadian public and the basketball community, but basketball wouldn’t be doing anything for me after five years because it’s not as if I would be up for a scholarship or could walk right into a national team.
“I would have to focus on my school work and my job [if the appeal fails], and I would even look to develop younger players in Dayrells Road even though Warriors’ image has probably been stained for a long time.”
The sanctions imposed on the Shaw brothers brought the number of players banned for life to three after Ricardo Yearwood received the maximum penalty last year.
