Melbourne Basketball Association
| Melbourne Tigers | |
|---|---|
| Leagues | SEABL |
| Arena | Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre |
| Capacity | 1,800 |
| Team colors | Black, Red, Yellow |
| Main sponsor | Peak |
| Head coach | Andrew Gaze |
| Championships | 9 (1965–70, 1983, 2008, 2009) |
| Website | tigersbasketball.com.au |
The Melbourne Basketball Association (MBA) is an administrative basketball association in Melbourne, Victoria. The association is responsible for two divisions: the Melbourne Tigers Junior Basketball Club and the Melbourne Tigers senior men's and women's representative teams.
The remnants of the Melbourne Basketball Association began in the 1920s with the birth of basketball in Victoria. Senior men's basketball teams began playing in the 1920s in local church halls around Melbourne, and in 1931, the Victorian Basketball Association (VBA) established a first division men's competition.
The Melbourne senior men's club began as St Lukes from North Fitzroy, where basketball games were played at St Lukes hall from 1924. The name of the club went through an evolution process where the club changed from St Lukes to Church of England, to becoming Church. It then became Melbourne Church and finally in 1975 the club decided to change its name to Melbourne Tigers. This was felt to better represent the players playing for the club, and thus give it a name that all could follow.
The Junior Boys' Club originated from the Saturday night CEBS (Church of England Boys' Society) competition run at Albert Park from 1959. Junior girls' basketball was not played until 1968.
The Melbourne Tigers Junior Basketball Club was founded by Ken Watson. Watson coached the cream of the sport — the national team at the 1956 and 1968 Olympic Games, state teams during a period when Victoria dominated, the Tigers' senior teams from the 1940s to the 1970s, when he handed over to Lindsay Gaze, and the Tigers' juniors until the early 2000s. The club is based at the inner Melbourne suburb of Albert Park and fields teams for both boys and girls from under 12s to under 20s, all of whom play in the Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL).
Between 1965 and 1970, the Melbourne Tigers senior men's team, then known as Melbourne Church of England, won the South Eastern Conference (SEC) championship every single year. In 1971, the league was abandoned due to the annual Australian Club Championship. However, in 1981, the competition resurfaced as the South Eastern Basketball League (SEBL) and the Tigers entered the league. By 1982, the Tigers were runners-up, and by 1983, the Tigers won their first SEBL championship.
In 1984, the Melbourne Basketball Association entered the Tigers senior men's team into the National Basketball League (NBL) after decades of supremacy over Victorian basketball. By 2002, poor management had led losses to mount rapidly in the so-called professional phase of the Melbourne Basketball Association's ownership of the NBL franchise. Following the 2001–02 NBL season, the "friends of the Tigers" syndicate purchased the Melbourne Tigers NBL team, as the franchise entered into private ownership led by Seamus McPeake, ending the team's direct affiliation with the Melbourne Basketball Association.
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