Author: RKS

Tigers fans are readying for a big 2015

RKS News , ,

Melbourne Tigers fans haven’t had a great last half of 2014 but it has ended on a high note with reports that the Tigers are committed to rebounding through the VJBL and BigV before tackling SEABL in 2016.

Those in charge of the mammoth task are understood to have a strategic plan in place for the Tigers to live on as a multi league Basketball team with no ties to Melbourne United and the plan will become clearer to fans as 2015 goes on.

The reports could not have come at a better time with the Dragons, United/Ballers and Magic getting all the news attention in recent weeks, it is hoped that with the news of the rebuild it will get Melbourne Tigers interest fans back from Melbourne United who are at the moment losing fans to the push for the Dragons to re-enter the league.

Fans are also hoping that the Tigers would stop by referred to as a ‘brand’ and instead referred to as a team for Melbourne and the Tigers are two names that go as one complete name and no part of the name is  interchangeable at any time.

Can the Tigers come home to WNBL one day?

RKS News

For many years in the WNBL, NBL teams also had teams in the WNBL with varying degrees of success.

Nunadwading Spectres won six WNBL titles in the 1980’s and were runners up in 1991, St Kilda won titles in 1981 and 1982, Bankstown and West Adelaide made Grand Final appearances in the early 1980’s and the Melbourne Tigers were also in titles contention during their stint in the WNBL.

The Tigers were runners up in 1994 and 1995 losing to Adelaide Lightning on both occasions, there was talk in the late 2000’s about the team returning to the WNBL but they were scrapped and it has once again popped up when the Tigers consortium looked at going from SEABL to WNBL which for all we know can still be on the cards.

Does anybody care about the Giants anymore?

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When it comes to teams that are missed you have people missing the Melbourne Tigers, West Sydney Razorbacks, Canberra Cannons, Brisbane Bullets, South East Melbourne Magic, South Dragons and many others but one team gone from the NBL but is still around is the Coburg Giants.

The team started their NBL journey as Coburg in 1980 before moving to North Melbourne in 1987, winning the NBL title in 1989 and 1994 before merging with SE Melbourne Magic for the 1998/99 Season before becoming the Victoria Titans and finally Victoria Giants before it was all over in 2004.

The Giants live on in the Coburg Basketball Association with the team having great success on and off the court but when it comes to NBL chatter the talk about the Giants is little compared to the other teams and so We Are Not United encourages Giants fans to talk Giants basketball, make a page, educate people about the team and who knows maybe the Giants can become a force again one competition at a time.

United fall to the 36er’s and the Breakers

RKS News ,

Melbourne United have had a horror couple of days by losing to the Adelaide 36er’s in Adelaide on Friday night 90 to 77 and then losing today to New Zealand Breakers 92 to 87 at Hisense Arena.

United fouled ten times in the last period in a bid to stop the Breakers with McRae, Kickert and Barlow being fouled out of the game in the late stages, even with the fouls United briefly snatched the lead in the final minute before New Zealand got away to record the five point win.

The Sydney Kings will no doubt be thankful to New Zealand for beating United after the Kings blew a chance keep pace with United by losing to Wollongong 82 to 77.

Tigers Girls score wins

RKS News ,

The Melbourne Tigers Girls teams played on Friday and had mixed results with some wins and some losses but overall the ladies should all be pleased with their performances and we hope they had a great time no matter what the result was for their respective teams.

12/1 def Keilor 32-7
12/2 def Eltham 25-23
12/3 def Frankston 2 32-28
12/5 def Werribee 28-27
14/2 def by Collingwood 2 25-40
14/3 Weribee2 23-25
14/4 def by Bacchus Marsh 24-38
14/5 def Frankston 32-20
14/6 def Knox 40-14
14/7 def McKinnon 50-20
14/8 def by Keilor 12-14
16/1 def Sandringham 41-38
16/3 def Bacchus Marsh 47-29
16/4 def by Knox 5 22-37
16/5 def by Keysborough 19-34
18/1 def Diamond Valley 38-32
18/2 def by Frankston 38-54
18/4 def by Sandringham 3 22-41

We are proud to be supporting the teams and we hope they have a great Christmas as well as having a great 2015 on and off the court.

Go Tigers!

Flashback to 2012 commemoration of 1993 title win

RKS News ,

Just two years ago, the majority of the staff and members of the Melbourne Tigers 1993 team gathered at The Cage during the NBL’s 2012/2013 heritage round to celebrate the 1993 title.

It was a fitting commemoration even if the celebration was a year short of the 20th anniversary of the great win in Perth, the Gaze’s were there, Lanard Copeland was there, Al Westover was there plus many more of the 1993 heroes and thanks to AndTheFoul.net fans who missed out on watching the commemoration get to see it on YouTube anytime they like.

No article is complete without a video of the highlights from Game 3 of the Grand Final series which is considered by many to be one of the greatest Grand Final matches in NBL history and to finish off there is a video comprised of several news reports on Game 3 of the Grand Final series which is great viewing as both teams gave their thoughts on the game.

SEABL plan reportedly fails

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Melbourne Tigers hopes have reportedly been dashed with reports from Brad Simpson that the 2015 season draw has already been finalized, earlier today we speculated that it was possible Melbourne Tigers could of replaced the Knox Raiders in the competition but it seems negotiations between the Tigers consortium and SEABL (and possibly Melbourne United) did not reach a satisfactory conclusion.

There are no details on why it has failed but it could be anything from the consortium unable to get a compromise from Melbourne United, the Tigers did not raise enough money for SEABL or SEABL did not want the Tigers in at this time plus an array of other options.

If this report is true this news is no doubt a result the Tigers fans were not hoping for but the supporters will bounce back and support the team in the BigV competition as the march continues towards getting the team back towards top level basketball.

Knox out, Melbourne in for SEABL?

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With the Knox Raiders announcing in late November that they are sitting out of the 2015 SEABL competition for financial reasons so they can play in 2016 is leaving Melbourne Tigers fans speculating that this be the catalyst to get the Melbourne Tigers into the competition.

The door still appears open for the Tigers to come in with the 2015 fixture not yet announced and with SEABL one team short this could be the perfect hurry up to get the Tigers into the competition and give the Tigers fans who are currently out in the cold of semi-professional or professional basketball something to cheer about.

Tigers fans watch Melbourne battle with interest

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Tigers fans have been watching the news about the SE Melbourne Magic and South Dragons bids to enter the NBL with interest for it has the potential to give fans a team to support in the NBL whilst the Tigers are on the sidelines.

This does not mean that Tigers fans will be buying Magic or Dragons memberships by the dozen as the majority asked in ‘Save The Melbourne Tigers’ have answered that they will wait for the Tigers to rejoin the competition instead of joining one of the two bids.

Fans have also stated strongly that they don’t mind which team gets in because they’ll get to beat Melbourne United, this could bode well for the incoming team for they will be looking to set up something special against their cross city rivals.

Tigers fans have overwhelmingly voted no to joining the CTI Melbourne United Ballers ranks with no votes recorded on the option, this does not bode well for United who are no doubt hoping those NBL fans who are supporters of the Tigers but dislike the thought of the Magic or the Dragons back in the NBL will join Melbourne United instead.

We Are Not United wishes both bids the best of luck and will be continuing to report on the outcome of their efforts when the news comes to hand.

The media still doesn’t like the name Melbourne United

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It’s been six months since the announcement that Melbourne United was the new name of the club that for the last 30 years was known as the Melbourne Tigers (80+ if you count the still continuing mother club) and the media is still having trouble getting the team’s name right.

It’s now Round 9 of the NBL season and today radio station Gold 104 called the team ‘Melbourne City’ in their news update, NBL commentators have been heard calling the team Melbourne Victory and the Melbourne Tigers and there is still plenty of rounds to go to call them the names of other Melbourne teams scattering throughout the sporting world such as the Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Demons, Melbourne Stars, Melbourne Aces, Melbourne Mustangs and the Melbourne Vixens.

To add to the confusion, Melbourne United themselves call the team in some promotional material the ‘CTI Melbourne United Ballers’ which is seen as an attempt to connect the mascot (Mr Baller) with the team name to connect with young fans and the team has also been introduced as the Ballers as they come out onto the court which makes fans and the generally curious wonder if they are the Ballers or United.

This proves that choosing United as the name was a very bad idea and there is no doubt that clubs around Australia will not be hiring the people who conducted the research that said United was a good name to replace the successful Tigers name, Tigers fans hope that when the Tigers make it back to the NBL as a separate entity they won’t be mistaken for Melbourne United.