A battered and exhausted Chris Goulding has arrived home after being savagely beaten during Australia's World Cup basketball qualifier in the Philippines.
Goulding was at the bottom of a pile-on and punched and kicked repeatedly by a dozen angry Filipino players and officials as Monday night's game descended into an all-in brawl.
The Boomers guard escaped serious injury despite also having a chair thrown at him by one of the Filipino coaches.
Australian basketball great and Boomers assistant coach Luc Longley rushed to break up the assault in what Goulding's agent later described as a potentially life-saving intervention.
Goulding touched down at Melbourne Airport early on Wednesday morning but declined to address the incident, with Basketball Australia claiming the Boomers players hadn't slept in 36 hours.
"I'm OK, mate ... it's been a long trip," Goulding told reporters.
"I'm just going to get home and try and rest up.
"It's been an interesting 48 hours. My main priority now is to get home, spend some time with family and I'll speak to everyone at a more appropriate time."
Longley, who flew into Brisbane, said the fight was the worst thing he'd seen on a basketball court.
"I've never seen anything like that, not even on YouTube," he said.
"Those are the sorts of images you hope to never see - one guy lying on the ground, covering up his head and being kicked and beaten by the other team's players and officials and guys from the crowd.
"It was horrifying ... really disturbing."
Longley was on the court trying to break things up and "get my big body in the way" but said it took him a few moments to realise Goulding was buried underneath a gang of Filipino players, officials and even fans who had left their seats to join the fray.
"Eventually I did see that and that's when I realised Bubbles had been left by himself, which is not fair," he said.
"Chris was very shaken. Chris was brave. He took a lot of hard hits and didn't swing once in retaliation which is an enormous act of discipline and he realises his importance to our program."
Lemanis said Goulding and Nathan Sobey, who was punched by an official and also hit by a chair, only had a few "bumps and bruises" to show for the fracas.
"The emotional scars, we'll see over time. That's hard to tell," he said.
Australian Associated Press
