By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The images of coach Tomas Masiulis sitting in front of a laptop in the scorers’ table and the game between Zalgiris Kaunas and Virtus Bologna being interrupted initially surprised everyone.
As it was revealed after the game, Zalgiris has protested the result, and the current league protocol asks the coach to type himself the official protest on the EuroLeague equipment to avoid possible misunderstandings.
Of course, that’s not an ideal solution, as it was evident in action, and the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board publicly asked for a change with the following press release.
“The EuroLeague Head Coaches Board has to communicate the need for a change in the way official protests are asked to be filed by the EuroLeague.
As it was evident in the game between Virtus Bologna and Zalgiris Kaunas, the head coach who wants to protest the result needs to type the text himself on the official scorer’s sheet of the competition. We see that this is handled differently in other leagues around the world, but for sure, seeing a coach typing down a protest in the game on a computer is not the solution we want to see.
We urge the EuroLeague to revert to the previous protocol about protests so that table officials can type it down, and at the end of the season, we hope that the protocol can be upgraded in a way that doesn’t obstruct the game.”