State Basketball League
 |
|
| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Inaugural season | 1989 |
| Director | Adam Bowler |
| No. of teams |
M: 14 W: 12 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most recent champion(s) |
M: Cockburn Cougars (3rd title) W: Willetton Tigers (8th title) |
| Most titles |
M: Perry Lakes Hawks (5 titles) W: Willetton Tigers (8 titles) |
| Official website | SBL.asn.au |
The State Basketball League (SBL) is Western Australia's semi-professional basketball league. The league comprises both a men's and women's competition and is run by the state's governing body, Basketball Western Australia.
The league was founded in 1989 after Basketball Western Australia sought to expand the local 'District' competition in Perth. The SBL is one of six major state-based semi-professional leagues in Australia and sits under the country's two professional leagues—the NBL and WNBL.
In the 1980s, the highest level of basketball in the state of Western Australia was played in Perth's 'District' competition. In an effort to expand the league, the president of Basketball Western Australia, Bob Williams, began approaching various business people in the country areas of Western Australia to gauge their interest in a statewide basketball competition. Williams was successful in getting three teams from outside the Perth metropolitan area to join the State Basketball League (SBL) for it's inaugural season in 1989. In addition to the eight Perth-based clubs (Cockburn, East Perth, Perry Lakes, Perth, Stirling, Swan City, Wanneroo, and Willetton) that entered both a men's and women's team, a team from Albany, Bunbury and Geraldton was entered into the men's competition. An extra team from the WAIS was also entered into the men's competition, making it 12 men's teams and eight women's teams for the inaugural season.
The 1990s saw the Bunbury Slammers dominate the men's competition, while the Swan City Mustangs and Willetton Tigers battled for supremacy in the women's competition—between 1991 and 1999, every WSBL Grand Final excluding 1994's featured at least one of those two teams.
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