The 2015/16 NBL season is about to start and it will be the second season without the Melbourne Tigers.

They say this season will be one of the best but this writer doesn’t feel very enthusiastic, I love the game but without the Tigers the NBL is just a league among leagues with the BigV on top of my list.

But let’s not despair about the fact Melbourne United are playing and use the fact they are playing to motivate us to get the Tigers back where they belong.

We’ve got choices Tigers fans, we can accept we’ll never get into the NBL again and just reminiscence about the four titles and many times more iconic coaches and players or we can take up the challenge of restoring the Melbourne Tigers to the NBL.

It’s not easy, Kestelman and Slepoy own the Tigers rights and they will hold on to them because they are lucrative and iconic but that’s not to say it’s impossible because never underestimate the power of the masses, there are two change.org petitions to choose from one is to make sure United stop using retired Tigers jersey numbers because they are meant to be one and the same club and the second is to free the Tigers property from Kestelman and Slepoy.

https://www.change.org/p/melbourne-united-larry-kestelman-nate-tomlinson-kyle-adnam-melbourne-united-stop-using-retired-tigers-jersey-numbers

https://www.change.org/p/melbourne-united-larry-kestelman-nate-tomlinson-kyle-adnam-melbourne-united-stop-using-retired-tigers-jersey-numbershttps://www.change.org/p/larry-kestelman-vince-crivelli-michael-slepoy-larry-kestelman-release-the-tigers-intellectual-property

The jersey one is for those who want to defend Tiger history while United still have it in their possession and the second one is a vote of no confidence in United being the front for Victorian basketball.

We also got the BigV, how do we make the Tigers strong in the BigV? WANMU believes that to succeed we will need to give the Tigers team lots of help and advice because they will not have the staff like the NBL team but the dedication no doubt is exactly the same if not higher for the Tigers also manage many juniors teams totaling hundreds of kids and teens.

As pointed out by Gavin Ingham, The Men’s team is coached by Andrew Gaze, the Women’s teams have daughters of Andrew Gaze and Nigel Purchase, Lindsay Gaze makes appearances, Lanard Copeland coaches in the same competition and a cup is on the line when his Broncos take on the Tigers.

Stay tuned Tigers fans on Tigers 2016 membership, every membership is important and fans may even get a nice surprise in their membership too like 2015 members who signed up for the higher levels got a signed Andrew Gaze shirt complete with message and those shirts made plenty of people’s days.

Keep those petition signatures coming, keep sharing with family and friends, remember a campaign works if people act like a basketball team passing and assisting each other to move things down the court for a score.

Keep on battling on Tigers fans.

Melbourne Tigers fans who did not join Melbourne United were startled this week when Melbourne United membership packs started arriving in their mail.

This was followed up by texts and phone calls with United reminding people of upcoming games and membership offerings, Melbourne United have claimed that some names were transferred by accident from the Tigers 2013/14 list to the United 2015/16 list although some are skeptical that this is the case.

Some have mailed back the pack, some have sent it back with a message, others have put the pack into recycling (good choice for the environment) or thrown it in a fire.

Other reports have that United got details off those who were lucky enough to see Ben Simmons and LSU in action against United earlier this season, this method is really sneaky as those who were lucky ticket winners became potential members.

Those who receive texts can get them stopped by texting STOP and the messages should stop, if they do not stop email a complaint to united@melbourneutd.com.au or email their CEO Vince Crivelli directly at vince.crivelli@melbourneutd.com.au

One fan wrote the following to Melbourne United (rude words censored)

“Do not send me any more text messages. Like I said before I’m a Tigers fan NOT a United fan (BTW using a soccer name for a basketball team? What a joke).
I made it CLEAR to you people last year that I was done with the NBL after this rebranding s**t. And don’t claim it was sent ‘by accident’. You want to change our team to a f**king soccer name (I HATE soccer BTW) you suffer the consequences of losing the fans that stuck by the Tigers loyally all these years.

F**k off”

Some fans have suggested giving them an abusive text before texting STOP, WANMU does not feel that is a good idea but each person has the right to choose what they want to do.

Melbourne United and other clubs if they do the same practice should not hound non members to become members, if somebody wants to become a member they will contact the club themselves to make arrangements.

Lastly Melbourne United, Melbourne is a city not a town so get that right in your next sales pitch.

(Picture provided by Kathy Meeson)

There was some good news for Melbourne Tigers fans as a check of Melbourne United’s roster revealed that the revered number 21 was not being used by United this season.

Tigers fans know that the number was made famous and iconic by Lanard Copeland and seeing it used in the NBL 2014/15 season by United was very insulting, adding to the insult was the fact Warrick Giddey’s #6 was also on the court when it was supposed to be retired.

The good news was short lived as it was discovered that United this year given Tigers 90’s hero Ray Gordon’s retired #8 to development player Kyle Adnam with Nate Tomlinson still to the disgust of passionate Tigers fans occupying Warrick Giddey’s #6.

Readers may be confused by this situation, Melbourne United is after taking away its last name and its colours is the Melbourne Tigers but the club seems eager to step as far away from the Tigers history as possible going as far as using the retired jerseys even if those retired jerseys are hanging on the walls of Hisense Arena and Margaret Court Arena.

With three of the Tigers six retired numbers being either used or is being in use by Melbourne United, it is only a matter of time before the remaining three of #10 (Andrew Gaze), #25 (Dave Simmons) and #50 (Mark Bradkte) will be used by United bringing more upset to those Tiger fans who fight for every scrap of the 1984-2014 NBL team’s dignity.

Tigers fans now have the opportunity to voice their displeasure by reading and signing the petition at
https://www.change.org/p/melbourne-united-larry-kestelman-nate-tomlinson-kyle-adnam-melbourne-united-stop-using-retired-tigers-jersey-numbers
Every signature will generate an email to Melbourne United in the hopes that they either take down the Tigers jerseys because they have insulted the fans for too long or Nate Tomlinson and Kyle Adnam make number changes themselves.

WANMU will keep you updated on the story as it unfolds.

We Are Not Melbourne United has recently celebrated it’s first birthday!

It’s been a great year of being a rebellious website fighting for the Melbourne Tigers and it’s fellow former Victorian NBL team rivals/brothers.

Our Tigers battled through BigV this year and posted more wins this year than last so that is very good news and we’re positive 2016 will be an even better season, make sure fans that you keep talking up the Tigers because people love to be part of the action and so the more talk equals more action equals more followers.

We will strive to keep fans informed on all important Tigers news including player arrivals/departures, memberships and it’s prices so you can snap one up and become an all important member of a club going strong since 1931.

Dragons fans are starting to roar again, Magic fans are having their say, Supercats are being talked up again, Giants fans pretty much only have one man waving their flag but hopefully that will soon change and so WANMU hopes more chatter continues because let’s face it there is no more passionate sports fans than Victorian sports team fans (no offence rest of Australia).

The NBL does look exciting with it’s roster of players and the Foxtel deal that shows all games but Larry Kestelman owns the majority of the NBL (and United!) and with no Tigers it’s just not 100% appealing at this time and WANMU can’t wait for the Tigers to play ball anywhere at anytime and make us forget the NBL is going around.

To close, the pictures below sums up our feelings until United comes falling down.

We REALLY ARE Melbourne, The Melbourne Tigers!.

The Melbourne Tigers Youth Championship Womens team’s season has heartbreakingly ended with a 82 to 70 loss to Bulleen at MSAC on Sunday.

Bulleen were just too good on the day with an excellent 51.9% Field Goal percentage as well as 40% from the 3 point line compared to Melbourne’s 30.6% and 30% from Field Goal and 3 point range.

Bulleen blew Melbourne away in the first half 41 to 21 before Melbourne fought back to win the third and fourth quarters to trim the margin down to twelve points at the final whistle.

Briana Babic top scored for the Tigers with 25 points from 25 minutes on the court, Peri Kalka was the top rebounder with 12 and Ellen Kett led assists for the Tigers with four.

With this Preliminary Final loss the season has ended with just two losses all season, a record that the ladies should feel really proud of for they have played to the best of their ability all season long, Tigers fans are proud of the the team’s achievements this season and wish them a great offseason before the new campaign starts in 2016.

With the BigV season over for all but one of the Melbourne Tigers senior teams, Tigers fans can start to think back to the days where NBL success was coming on a championship playoff basis.

In 1993, the air of now Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park (then Flinders Park) was filled by the leaps and slam dunks by Lanard Copeland, the almost perfect shooting from near and far by Andrew Gaze and the roar of Tigers fans as the Tigers marched towards the 1993 title.

Thankfully Tigers fans in 2015 have a two minute and fifteen second compilation of the Tigers legends terrorizing the league, this compiliation has been seen over 21,000 times for 37 likes and 2 unlikes, The two dislikes are mostly likely to have come from Perth Wildcats fans who still curse the Tigers for taking the title away from them that year.

WANMU hopes fans will enjoy this great piece of Basketball history like we have whilst dreaming of a successful 2016 for the Tigers in the Big V competition.

The Melbourne Tigers had a successful weekend as the Tigers Men easily defeated McKinnon 78 to 57 and the Victorian Youth Championship Women’s side defeated Diamond Valley in their Elimination Final clash 88 to 35.

Dillion Stith and Dexter Kernich-Drew scored for the Tigers with 27 and 24 points each with the duo scoring 51 out of the Tigers 78 points for the game.

For the Victorian Youth Championship Women’s team, Briana Babic and Alex August-Leifi top scored with 19 and 15 points each as the Tigers ran over the Eagles at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Melbourne’s Men end their season with 7 wins (3 wins from their last six matches) whilst the Women continue on in their quest to bring home a title and with names like Phoebe and Courtney Gaze as well as Lucy Purchase in the side, long time Tigers fans would flock to the games to see the next generation of Tigers stars.

Melbourne Tigers Mens team lost to Bulleen in overtime 74 to 69 last Saturday night but the result while disappointing has shown that the Tigers have had a competitive season.

The Tigers are set to finish third last with a 6-17 record although when taking into account several Tigers losses ten points and under, the season has been an great improvement on the 2014 season.

The team takes on McKinnon in the final match of the season which is set for 8pm this Saturday at Bentleigh Secondary College.

Tigers fans who have watched the stats throughout the season with interest have noticed that one area that needs to be improved is their shooting accuracy.
The Tigers had the oppportunity to bury Bulleen but let many opportunities slip by missing shots, Dillion Stith was one player who had trouble by missing his first nine shots at two point range before steadying to becoming the Tigers second highest points scorer on the night.

Tigers Women’s team had a 5-15 record for the season and will no doubt be looking to snap up the services of the players from the Tigers Victorian Youth Championship Women’s side who compilied a 21-1 record for the season.

The Youth Women’s team will take on Diamond Valley in the Elimination Final on Saturday night, Tigers fans can catch the action from 12pm at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Victorian Youth Championship Men’s team had a 8-14 record for the season but is the second best team for the Tigers this year and there is no doubt the Tigers Men’s team will be interested in the players for 2016.

While the majority of Tigers teams have had a losing season, there is still plenty to cheer about in the sporting capital of the world.