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| New NBL; No Sydney or Brisbane | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 30 2009, 07:12 AM (390 Views) | |
| galahs | May 12 2009, 02:19 PM Post #16 |
Four of a Kind
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Townsville Crocodiles skipper John Rillie has voiced scepticism on the longevity of a revamped seven-team national basketball competition to commence later this year. Basketball Australia (BA) today announced its plan to go ahead with the new league, despite no teams from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne being involved. Rillie says he is concerned the competition will struggle without the backing of the major cities. "I think if you're going to have a prosperous sporting league for basketball there is no doubt you need major teams in the metropolitan areas," he said. The South Dragons and Melbourne Tigers announced over the last few days that they would not be participating in any new competition. That leaves Perth, Adelaide, Townsville, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Wollongong and New Zealand to participate in the new league, which will tip off in October. Wollongong Hawks player Mat Campbell is also wary of the competition's potential for success, and says it is crucial the seven-team format does not "cheapen the game". "I think if we tread water we'll be OK. I think moving backwards would be my biggest concern," he said. "As long as we don't cheapen the game this season in the lead-up to a bigger and brighter 2010, like that's the concern I'll have and be putting forward." BA chief executive Larry Sengstock has told The World Today it is important to keep the sport going in Australia. "We are trying to make sure that we provide opportunities for our players, our teams, our coaches, our administrators, our sponsors, supporters, and every opportunity to see basketball at its highest level in Australia in the coming years," he said. It had been suggested that basketball follow the model of soccer and take a year off before relaunching, but Mr Sengstock said BA believed that is not the right way to go. "They had a different support, a financial support, I suppose going forward. We don't have that," he said. "I think they had a real reason to shut it down. They had other objectives in shutting their league down in order to restructure it. I don't think we have that." Less is more? Perth Wildcats chief executive Nick Marvin says having fewer teams under the new format may improve the quality of the national competition. Mr Marvin says he is not concerned only seven teams are staying in the league. "What we do know with less teams is the quality of basketball gets better, because you have got the better talent out there playing," he said. Mr Marvin says the players and staff are relieved at the decision to trim the competition, and admits it has been a difficult time for the Wildcats. "The players and the staff are going through an emotional roller coaster ride but we've given them as much hope and support," he added. "We hope to give them over the next few days a real path of certainty." |
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| galahs | May 12 2009, 02:21 PM Post #17 |
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Four of a Kind
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Is basketball in Australia doomed? 12/05/2009 3:17 PM Jonathan Healy Sportal How can anyone take the new men's basketball competition seriously if there are to be no teams in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane? Ever since its inception in 1979 the NBL has suffered its fair share of problems, but you would have thought that the recent reform would have been a good thing for the sport. It was the perfect time to throw out all the old clubs and start afresh. The first thing Basketball Australia needed to do was to get a major sponsor for the new competition. HUMMER was the naming rights sponsor two years ago and then last season there was none! BA had plenty of time to get a new major sponsor and this should have been the No.1 priority. Once a major sponsor had been signed, BA needed to organise deals with both pay-TV and free-to-air television to telecast games - either live or delayed. None of this had been done and the Melbourne Tigers and South Dragons could see this and made the right decision to pull out of the competition for its first year. So what are we left with? Seven clubs, with no representation in three of the biggest capital cities in Australia. While there are no Geelong Supercats, Newcastle Falcons, Hunter Pirates or Canberra Cannons among the clubs set to suit up for the new season, we may as well have included these teams given what we are going to see. Three teams in Queensland - Townsville, Gold Coast and Cairns - one in Perth, a financially stricken one in Adelaide, one that like Cairns has had its problems in the past in Wollongong and a New Zealand franchise. Anyone getting excited about this? Not me. South Dragons co-owner Raphael Geminder was spot on last week when he said: "We cannot tolerate a reform that takes the sport backwards." This is exactly what has happened so far and at least the Dragons and Tigers took some initiative by pulling out of the competition. Yes, it may mean that some of Australia's best basketball players of all time - like Chris Anstey - are forced into an early retirement, but it is supposed to be about what is good for the sport of basketball. If BA is serious about getting basketball back on track in Australia then it needs to take the lead of the Dragons and Tigers and postpone the new season until 2010. If it doesn't want to sit out for a full two years then how about starting the new season in March 2010 and playing it as a winter sport? At least then there will be more time to organise a major sponsor and television rights. Basketball fans, like me, will watch the new seven-team league, but you have to feel that the competition is doomed, even before it has started. |
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| galahs | May 12 2009, 02:23 PM Post #18 |
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Four of a Kind
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Basketball Australia boss Larry Sengstock has revealed the sport's plans to push ahead with an elite seven-team competition in 2009, before launching a new national league in time for the 2010/11 season. Sengstock will meet with representatives of all seven clubs - Adelaide 36ers, Cairns Taipans, Gold Coast Blaze, New Zealand Breakers, Perth Wildcats, Townsville Crocodiles and Wollongong Hawks - on Wednesday to flesh out the details of the proposed temporary elite men's league to begin later this year. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane will not be represented following the collapse of the Sydney Spirit and Brisbane Bullets last season, while last year's grand finalists South Dragons and Melbourne Tigers withdrew their applications earlier this week. Speaking at a packed media conference in Sydney on Tuesday, Sengstock said while BA remains committed to launching a new fully fledged national competition in 2010, the sport can simply not afford to lay dormant for 12 months. "We as a sport recognise that we don't have the ability to take (the year) off, we want to continue," he said. "We have a number of people who work in our sport, who play in our sport, we have obligations to our players and we want to ensure that we give them every opportunity to continue in their chosen field." "We also have an obligation to our supporters and our spectators and our public to continue our sport and we also want to maintain our presence in the market place as a sport." "So we will be working with that group of seven to continue and to provide opportunities to our players moving forward." The timing and duration of the season, as well as the financial viability of all seven clubs, will be determined at Wednesday's meeting. |
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| galahs | May 12 2009, 02:24 PM Post #19 |
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Four of a Kind
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Geez it really isn't looking good is it |
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| Seaney | May 13 2009, 07:58 AM Post #20 |
Flush
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nbl is shite, ever since kings have been gone i will never watch another game |
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| galahs | May 13 2009, 08:00 AM Post #21 |
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Four of a Kind
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I lost interest when the Razorbacks changed to the Spirit. I mean, WTF!!! |
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| Seaney | May 13 2009, 08:03 AM Post #22 |
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:laughing: yep, well i had never gone to a basketball game let alone an nbl game and i went to the kings final series, 2 of the 3 games and lucky i did before they got booted |
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| galahs | May 13 2009, 08:25 AM Post #23 |
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Four of a Kind
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Basketball Australia will now attempt to have eight teams in the new men's National Basketball League, including a representative from Victoria. BA chief executive Larry Sengstock says a meeting of the seven clubs which have submitted expressions of interest have decided to proceed with plans for a league starting later this year. And despite the withdrawal of Melbourne Tigers and South Dragons from the planned league, BA and the other seven clubs have decided they'll find a Victorian representative to add to their ranks. Cairns, Townsville, Wollongong, Adelaide, Perth, New Zealand and Gold Coast have all agreed to be part of the new league. Sengstock says discussions are under way with several interested parties to be Victoria's representative in the new competition. Sengstock said a meeting in Melbourne between BA and representatives of the seven clubs already was "positive". All parties were determined to press ahead with establishing a new competition starting some time in late 2009. But the major surprise was keeping a spot in any draw open for a Victorian side - though Sengstock admitted any would-be entrant would have to be found swiftly. "We've had some very positive pushes and discussions in that area," Sengstock said on Wednesday. "We want to make sure there is a basketball team in an elite competition down here. "It has to be sooner rather than later because we need to get out there with the draws, stadium bookings, it's a very tight time frame unfortunately." Sengstock said even if attempts to bring in a Victorian club failed, the competition would proceed in 2009-2010 as a seven-team league, with the prospect of adding more clubs the following season. |
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| galahs | May 13 2009, 08:26 AM Post #24 |
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Four of a Kind
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I can remember going to Kings games back in the early to mid 90's that were wekkly sell outs. The NBL lost their free to air deal with chanel 10, then they lost the fans, then they lost the plot. |
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| galahs | May 28 2009, 07:11 AM Post #25 |
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Four of a Kind
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Just heard on the Radio that Melbourne Tigers are going to enter a team. |
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| james_the_ripper | May 28 2009, 09:24 AM Post #26 |
King
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kcuf yeah!!!!! The Tigers are back baby. |
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| james_the_ripper | Jun 25 2009, 12:06 PM Post #27 |
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New NBL logo: http://www.nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=78164 |
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| leaguegod | Jun 25 2009, 12:07 PM Post #28 |
Back2Back
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what a surprise, its gay |
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9:21 PM Sep 4
