Author: RKS

The 50 heard around the world

RKS News ,

It was Round 21 of the NBL 2013/14 season, The Melbourne Tigers were finals bound and 7532 people went to Hisense Arena to see the Tigers take on the Sydney Kings or as some people called it Chris Goulding vs Sam Young as the season’s two highest point scorers went head to head.

Early on it was noticed that Chris Goulding was a man on a mission as his long range shots started going in while the Kings who were good at close range were having far less success from the 3pt line which kept the Tigers in the game as Sydney were crashing the Tigers party by leading by 5 points early in the third quarter.

But before the Kings could get comfortable and settle into the lead on Hisense Arena, The Tigers roared to life thanks to threes by Goulding and Tommy Greer and soon a lead was opened up that the Kings just couldn’t close up despite Sam Young and company’s best efforts.

Mark Worthington, Nate Tomlinson and Tommy Greer all had starring roles as they blocked, rebounding and assisted their team on the court with such examples being Worthington having six rebounds to go with Tomlinson’s nine assists.

Melbourne held on to win 92 to 82 with Goulding scoring 54% of the Tigers total, news of Goulding’s efforts went right around Australia and even around the world as the achievement set in the full game total of 40 minutes was something not seen in the country for a long time and in some NBL basketball minds it matched Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game in the NBA in terms of outstanding scoring performances in a game.

A few games later Chris Goulding played the last of his games for the Tigers while the Tigers themselves were removed from NBL in the name of bigger profits but until the Tigers return to the NBL few will forget the day Goulding ruled over the Kings.

For video of the great game plus all the finer details check out the NBL article here.

Melbourne Tigers Womens Basketball Association holds AGM

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The Melbourne Tigers Womens Basketball Association held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Monday with announcements to changes to the committee made while announcing three new committee members, those members are Donna Fisher, Stephen Letts and Karen McCrea.

The Tigers have left a link on their website that allows visitors to check out who the committee are and there is no doubt that current and new committee members will do their very best for the club, to see who is on the committee click here.

Number crunching proves United not making gains

RKS News ,

We Are Not United have crunched the numbers between the Tigers last four regular season games and United’s first four regular season games at Hisense and have found that the Tigers had larger numbers of attendance.

By counting the 2013/14 Tigers four regular season games at Hisense plus one final the total is 30,552 people for an average of 6110.4 so that’s 6110 people per game when rounded down while Melbourne United’s first five regular season games have had a total of 23,773 people for a total of 4754.6, rounded up to 4755 people per game which means the Tigers had 6,779 more people and a bigger average per game of 1355 people.

Now if we take only the four Tigers regular season games and exclude the finals they had 26,551 for an average of 6637.75 rounded up to 6638 while United’s first four regular season games at Hisense had a total of 20,366 at an average of 5091.5 so comparing the averages the Tigers are on top by 1547 people which proves that no matter which way you slice up the numbers the Tigers have had a superior turnout.

Melbourne United may claim a superior season overall attendance over the Tigers at the end of the season but it should be noted that the Tigers played 10 games at the smaller The Cage and only four games at Hisense with none at Margaret Court Arena compared to United who play the majority of their season at HA and MCA.

WANU Tigers SEN wrap

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Andrew Gaze and Nigel Purchase have been on SEN in the last week to talk up Basketball and other topics, Andrew of course co-hosts ‘The Morning Glory’ and one segment had Ask Gazey where he answered questions from those on Twitter who had #AskGazey,

Nigel Purchase appeared on Kevin Bartlett’s ‘Hungry for Sport’ where he talked about his son Jack and his college basketball experience in the US, they discussed Golf and then talked a little about D-Mac and Brian Goorjian, United’s form and who they will be coming up against while suggesting people check out the game .

Returns do happen

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There is no denying that people hate sports teams folding, relocating or being booted out and most never return but there are teams that have gone due to various reasons only to return to the league they came from years later, below are three examples with a potential fourth example coming next year.

1. Sydney Kings returned to the NBL competition in 2010 after being removed in 2008.
2. South Sydney Rabbitohs returned to the NRL in 2002 after being booted in 1999, won title in 2014.
3. Cleveland Browns were reformed and returned to the NFL in 1999 after the original team moved to Baltimore for the 1996 season.
4. Brisbane Bullets may be back for the 2015/2016 NBL season after folding in 2008.

Although the Cleveland Browns were moved to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Ravens, legal battle erupted and after negotiation between all major parties, the Browns were declared deactivated and the intellectual property from the team name to the training facilities of the Browns were not included in the move and were protected in a trust to allow Cleveland to have the Browns back when the NFL expanded which happened in 1999 therefore the Ravens have no claim on the past success of the Browns.

South Sydney after they were left out of the league at the end of the 1999 season was reinstated to the NRL for the 2002 season thanks to court cases and people power and now with private ownership the team has become a success by regularly featuring in the finals and winning the 2014 NRL Premiership.

Sydney Kings collapsed due to fraudulent actions by Firepower International chairman Tim Johnston who brought the club for two million dollars, Sydney Kings players were owed a total upwards of a quarter of a million dollars while Super Rugby team and NRL team South Sydney Rabbitohs were left in the lurch financially after Firepower collapsed, the Kings returned to the competition in 2010 and after a slow start is now playing great Basketball.

The Brisbane Bullets fell after Eddy Groves business empire started to collapse in early 2008, banks loaned money to Groves against the value of his company’s shares and unfortunately for Groves and the Bullets his company had a massive net profit loss of 42% which combined with rumours that the company were in default of it’s lending covenants the banks were owed money and the Bullets were cut loose to try keep ABC Learning Centres afloat, unfortunately for the Bullets no buyer was found and the team was gone at the height of success.

It is now believed a return of the Brisbane Bullets would create a more solid foundation for the NBL for teams would now be in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane and so the NBL will be working overtime for the Bullets to return for the 2015/16 season.

The Melbourne Tigers situation is closer to the Cleveland Browns than the others although the team (now Melbourne United) never really left it’s home but changed everything else while keeping the Intellectual Properties of the Tigers to itself but it is hoped that common sense will prevail and the IP of the Tigers is released and in a Browns like deal a place in the NBL is given to the team in the future.

A great night for Melbourne

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Melbourne Tigers fans had plenty to cheer about last night as the Tiger teams in the VJBL scored multiple wins across the competition.

Wins were achieved by the Tigers boys and girls in Under 14’s, 16’s and 18’s matches while the Boys U/12’s and the Girls U/12 Tigers 2, U/14 Tigers 1 and U/18’s Tigers 3 fell in their matches although there is no doubt that all who participated in the matches played to the best of their ability and had fun at the end of the night.

Overall it can be said by Tigers fans that they had a much better night than Melbourne United fans whose team lost in the NBL to the New Zealand Breakers who scored revenge against United after losing on United’s home turf earlier this month.

Tigers fans hoping for good news

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It’s been a quiet week for Tigers fans as they await word of the effort by the Tigers consortium to get the team into SEABL for the 2015 season, fans are hoping that the consortium is having success in their quest to raise a quarter of a million dollars to finance the Tigers having teams in both the Men’s and Women’s competition.

It has long been said that if the SEABL plan is unable to happen the team will then focus on the competitions that the Tigers currently play in and there is no doubt that the consortium will keep trying to get the Tigers in SEABL eventually as the team makes it’s way back to the NBL and take on their former NBL spin off Melbourne United who in what some say is a hypocritical twist sponsor the VJBL which is participated in by the Tigers.

We Are Not United will continue to report on the progress of the Tigers consortium as more information comes to the public.

Save The Melbourne Tigers group restructures for Tigers comeback

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Facebook group ‘Save The Melbourne Tigers’ is restructuring itself in an effort to be of more assistance to the Tigers consortium now and into the future.

The group will be changing it’s membership criteria to allow more fans to become part of the group while the group will also be updating it’s behavioral standards by encouraging fans to forget about venting anger and frustration at Melbourne United and their fans, while this is not an easy thing to do giving Melbourne United and their fans their space could have benefits for the future.

This encouragement does not signal capitulation for Tigers fans are asked to work towards getting the Melbourne Tigers ready for an upcoming SEABL or BigV campaign as well as following the various junior teams so they become well known to Basketball fans.

Tigers fans are still awaiting more news on the SEABL plan but are confident that progress will be made and more news will become available shortly as the clock ticks down to the release of the fixture for the next SEABL season.

Simmons son just like his father and potentially even better.

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Melbourne Tigers legend David (Dave) Simmons son Ben Simmons is Louisiana State University’s newest signing and he has gotten the University all excited over his playing ability with one commenting that Simmon’s signing is the best since a guy named Shaquille O’Neal signed up at LSU.

Ben Simmonds is a 206cm tall left hander and has highlight reels galore with one example being in this article but the best news is that the name is LSU’s team is the Tigers and Ben Simmons is a Boomer as well so he will be seen with the likes of Exum and Bogut well into the future which will no doubt excite those whole follow the Australian team.

Melbourne Tigers fans hope that Ben Simmons will come back to Australia after a decade in the USA and guest in the NBL joining the team that his father is considered so much a legend of that his number 25 jersey hangs high beside Ray Gordon, Warrick Giddey, Andrew Gaze, Lanard Copeland and Mark Bradkte’s retired jerseys.

Could China bring Tigers hopes to life?

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Tigers fans listening to SEN this morning were surprised to learn that Andrew Gaze is currently in China on personal business which has lead to speculation that Mr Gaze could pick up some sponsors for the Melbourne Tigers SEABL effort while he is doing his business over there.

While it seems China is an odd place for chasing sponsors, it is not too far-fetched considering China’s rise as a world power and also the Tigers had Chinese sponsorship during it’s successful NBL finals campaigns of the late 00’s and so perhaps the Chinese companies who had some dealings with the Gaze family may feel inclined to go around with them again only this time be part of a new adventure.

Then again Andrew Gaze could be just putting his feet up watching the Chinese play ball and maybe even call in on former Tigers player and Tigers coaching rival Brian Goorjian or some other pals over there, speculation can sometimes be a wondrous thing.