News

What will United wear?

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Heritage Round for the NBL is here and all eyes on are Melbourne United on what they’ll wear when they appear at The Cage to take on Townsville next week.

Will they be wearing Melbourne Tigers gear? SE Melbourne Magic? Nunawading Spectres? North Melbourne Giants? Frankston Bears?  St Kilda? Any of the other Melbourne and Geelong area teams?.

If the Tigers jersey is chosen it will no doubt make unhappy Tigers fans even unhappier considering the Tigers history was booted in favor of United Ballers and the game it is at the Tigers former home turf.

If they pick other teams those fans would be unhappy because they didn’t like the Tigers and lastly if they chose a state jersey then people will be reminded by United Ballers statement that the United Ballers aren’t trying to grab the whole state for themselves.

United Ballers will later on be having a Foundation Round, since Melbourne United Ballers have said the Tigers and United Ballers are the same team, the below should serve as a reminder that Foundation for Melbourne was 1984 and not 2014.

1984 Tigers

Harrower’s retirement brings back Tigers WNBL memories

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This writer was too young to remember the fact that the Melbourne Tigers had an WNBL team but the knowledge of the team existing in that league is something to be proud of as Melbourne has had teams in the very best leagues that Australia can offer.

The recent retirement of WNBL legend Kristi Harrower who played for the Melbourne Tigers among other great teams has brought memories of the Tigers days in the WNBL back to many fans, perhaps this will spur on Tigers fans to fill in the gaps where there is a lack of recorded history of the side in the league.

The Tigers didn’t win any titles after being denied twice by Adelaide Lightning but perhaps one day a new Tigers team will take to the court and win the elusive WNBL title and join a few clubs to have a NBL and WNBL title to their name.

Don’t despair Tigers fans, BigV is getting closer

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2015 is well underway now that the first week of the year is gone and life is returning to normal, sure the NBL is still going and that is very depressing for Tigers fans as the Tigers aren’t in action but fans can take comfort in knowing that we are one week closer to the Tigers playing in the 2015 BigV competition.

Tigers fans have reported the affect that the Tigers not being in the NBL has had on young children for some have asked their parents why they haven’t seen a game yet, it is no doubt difficult to explain the situation to children but one way is that the Tigers will be back in action during winter and they will be seen again and again when the time comes.

The BigV Tigers may have little profile compared to the NBL Tigers but with NBL Tigers fans sharing information on the team there is little doubt that the team’s profile will rise and new heroes will be cheered on by Tigers fans young and old.

The Long and Winding 2014 Tigers review

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Another year has almost wrapped up, it has been a year of almost two halves for Tigers fans and not all of it was good.

The beginning started so well, the Tigers were heading for the NBL finals after a couple of years sitting on the outside looking in, people were filling The Cage to 100% capacity and Hisense Arena was open for Tigers business to which the fans responded by getting 7,000+ in for a game against Sydney.

Finals were reached but the joy was short lived as Adelaide crashed the party and bundled the Tigers out of the title race, despite this Tigers fans were looking forward to the 2014/15 season for they knew if the Tigers got one or two more recruits and worked more their plays then finals would be a strong chance again.

It was a pretty quiet off season, the only major news it seemed was that Chris Goulding was on many international teams shopping lists which was understandable yet saddening for he was in great form with the Tigers then May 19 came.

May 19 started like any other day, people went on with their daily business and then in the afternoon rumors were spreading that the Tigers were going to be no more on May 20 and throughout the night people were swamping the Facebook page with questions and rumblings of dissent started.

May 20 came and the rumors were true, the Melbourne Tigers were no more, gone because they were the Melbourne Tigers, the offspring of the original Melbourne Tigers who have been a pain in the junior competition ranks and the BigV since 1931, gone because people said they wouldn’t support the Melbourne Tigers but would support another team, gone because owners didn’t want people to follow any other team.

The Tigers were renamed Melbourne United, the owners were the same, the coach was the same and the staff was mostly the same but the colours were different, the mascot was different, the song was different, the feel was different, in short they were not the Melbourne Tigers known for the last 30 years, replaced by the Victoria Titans 2.0.

Tigers fans were suddenly in unknown territory, do they stand with Melbourne United or stay away from the NBL?. Arguments broke out as some members pointed the finger at fans who didn’t have the means to be a member or attend matches, others struck back by pointing out that Melbourne United’s aims were moot because they were a repainted Melbourne Tigers and a second NBL team was coming to Melbourne in 2015/2016 or 2016/17.

In the months past fans have been reduced to watching NBL games in Melbourne as a casual observer, some have joined Melbourne United, some more have joined the South Dragons and South East Melbourne efforts to rejoin the NBL while a good number of fans have gone to follow the original Melbourne Tigers as they rebuild their honour and legacy through the VJBL and BigV.

Fans have indicated they don’t know what the future holds for the Tigers, many hope the Gazes can once again steer Melbourne towards good times, others hope business will give the SEABL plan for 2016 the green light, while it is still fairly dark in the tunnel there is a tiny light in the distance and it is not trains coming the other way but instead it is a future.

2015 will see the Tigers play in the BigV and VJBL and it is hoped that many Tigers fans will be watching and supporting the many Tigers teams as they have during this testing year, fans have learnt many lessons from this year and those lessons will help the Tigers grow again to be one of the best known and loved teams in Australian sporting history.

Let’s Go Tigers, Let’s Go!.

Wildcats take win against United in O/T finish

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The Wildcats had runned and stunned and had some nerve racking fun with the Melbourne United Ballers today winning in overtime 81 to 80, the Wildcats haven’t had a great time against The United Ballers this season and they would of went home empty handed had a last ditch shot by the United Ballers to score the winner went in but to the delight of the Red Army it missed and the win was Perth’s.

The Melbourne United Ballers at last had a crowd in the 6000’s which will no doubt make the front office of the team happy after crowd totals in previous games hung around the 5000 mark which is lower than the Tigers average at Hisense Arena during the 2013/14 season.

The Melbourne United Ballers next game is against the Sydney Kings in Sydney which will no doubt be a game of interest with Josh Childress sure to be playing this time, it is expected that Childress will give Sydney a good chance of the Kings avenging their loss to the United Ballers last week.

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A slightly empty Christmas for Tigers fans

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Christmas time used to be special for Tigers fans for it meant that the NBL season was entering the second half of the season and thoughts of finals start to enter the mind.

For this festive season there is no Tigers in the NBL or any major competition but Tigers fans find some cheer in knowing that the number of Christmases without the Tigers in competition are numbered for we have every faith in the team being built up to be nice and strong again and playing in a number of strong leagues.

Enjoy this Christmas, wear some Tigers gear and add to your Christmas some Basketball cheer by playing a game or watching a classic match or two in the company of family and friends and may next Christmas be one of 100% Tiger positivity.

Dragons roar to 800 likes

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Save Our South Dragons Facebook page has passed 800 views thanks to a mention in The Age, the group had 528 members before The Age on December 10 published a story mentioning the South Dragons and the group which lead to the rapid increase in likes.

The group has some way to go to catch Melbourne United who have 35,000 likes although the majority of those were from the days the page was run for the Melbourne Tigers, South East Melbourne Magic currently has 610 likes while Melbourne Tigers fans are discussing opening a fan page in the near future.

Save Our South Dragons hope that the increase in likes continues and that the page enters four figure likes real soon to ensure that the NBL really knows that there is great interest in the revival of the former NBL team.

United Ballers win but crowds still under 6000 people

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Melbourne United Ballers swept the round with overtime wins against Wollongong and Sydney but the team still hasn’t been able to crack 6000 fans at either Hisense Arena or Margaret Court Arena.

Melbourne United Ballers had 5768 people attend the game against the New Zealand Breakers the previous round but only had 5,377 people attend the highly anticipated game against the Kings, it is believed that crowd numbers were down due to the late withdrawal of Sydney star Josh Childress or that Melbourne residents were just more into getting their shopping done.

Fans and general watchers of the game are still reporting that Melbourne United Ballers games are still lacking atmosphere as well as reporting that the music is still annoying with one attendee reporting that despite the game going into overtime they couldn’t wait to leave.

There is no doubt that Melbourne Tigers, South Dragons and/or South East Melbourne Magic fans and officials are taking down notes on what is considered weaknesses in Melbourne United Ballers promoting and entertainment in order to ensure their games have the best possible entertainment and fan satisfaction levels.

Tigers fans are readying for a big 2015

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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?

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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.