Perth Redbacks
| Perth Redbacks | |
|---|---|
| Leagues | SBL |
| Founded | 1964 |
| History | Perth Redbacks 1964–present |
| Arena | Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre |
| Location | Bentley, Western Australia |
| Team colors | Red, black & white |
| Head coach | Nik Lackovic (M) Keith Horwood (W) |
| Championships | 3 (1989, 1990, 1997) (M) 2 (1989, 2000) (W) |
| Website | PerthRedbacks.asn.au |
The Perth Redbacks are a basketball club from Perth, Western Australia competing in the semi-professional State Basketball League (SBL), the Women's State Basketball League (WSBL) and in the Junior Western Australian Basketball League (WABL).
Contents
History
Early years
The Perth Basketball Association (PBA) began life in 1964 as the Perth Men's Basketball Club. The original name was a conscious decision to distinguish the club from a netball club as netball was also known as basketball in Australia at that time. The founders of the club were Bob Symons and Peter Simper who were playing A-grade basketball for the University Basketball Club in the City of Perth's A-grade basketball competition in the early 1960s. Some of the other teams playing in the City's A-grade competition then were Subiaco, Highgate, YMCA-Perth and Scarborough-YMCA. YMCA Perth was by far the strongest team in the men's competition with Dick Hughes, a 1960 Olympian, John Jones and Ian Outram who were national and state players respectively.
A number of players in the University team had graduated from the University of Western Australia (UWA) several years earlier and were technically no longer eligible to play for the University club. Bob Symons also believed that it was time for a new team to play at the top level in the men's competition run by the ABA of WA at the new and modern three-court basketball stadium at Perry Lakes, five kilometres west of the Perth CBD. Symons captain-coached the first senior men's team. The other players included Peter Simper, Graham Smith (St Johns), Len Vlahov (SLOGA) and Richard Longley. Simper, Vlahov and Longley were also all former UWA students. An A-reserve team was also formed to take up the other interested players. Almost immediately the club experienced success, and in the 1965 season, Perth defeated YMCA-Perth in the Grand Final. This success was followed by wins in the 1970 and 1973 Grand Finals, and runners-up in 1968 and 1975.
1970s
From 1964 until 1975, the club remained a men's basketball club with three senior teams and a number of under 16 and under 18 junior boy's teams. Under the leadership of Edmund Rogers and others, the Perth club began a very successful junior boy's development program emphasising strong fundamentals. The program produced many skilful and talented players who represented WA at national basketball carnivals. In 1972, a number of young Perth players from the Tuart Hill Basketball Club broke away from the Perth club and, with players from the Mirrabooka Basketball Club, formed the Stirling Senators Basketball Club. The following year, a junior development program was restarted by Perth's senior players and former players focusing on developing young players at the Applecross, Cannington, Bentley and Kewdale high schools.
In 1975, the Amateur Basketball Association of WA (later BWA) required all eight major basketball clubs in the Perth metropolitan area to field and promote women's teams. Swan Districts and East Perth joined the District competition and all clubs were allocated Districts to work and promote the game. The A-grade competition became known as the District Competition. Clubs such as Subiaco and Highgate, however, did not join and either merged with other Associations or played in the lower ranked Metropolitan (Metro) competition. That same year, the Perth Men's Basketball Club became known as the Perth Basketball Association in keeping with the new structure. That season, a strong Perth men's team was defeated by two points by the new Stirling team which was made up of many of Perth's former junior players. Perth also won the women's grand final in that year, with a team of players who came over from the East Perth Basketball Association. As Perth had been originally founded as a men's club, it was difficult for them to catch up with a strong women's program but by the mid 1980s, it had succeeded in doing so, thanks to the hard work of players, former players and with the support of interested parents.
1980s
In 1982, when the Perth Wildcats entered the National Basketball League (NBL), several players from the PBA were in the Wildcats squad including Ed Cecins, Brad Cecins and Ian Frame. In 1984, the club donned the nickname of the Perth Redbacks and began a very successful pre-season junior tournament for SBL clubs known as the Junior Redback Classic, which in 2014 celebrated its 30th year. In 1989, the club secured a lucrative sponsorship deal from Perth's Burswood Casino, and for 13 years the men's and women's SBL teams were known as the Burswood Redbacks.
Championship years
In 1989, the PBA was the first paid-up and founding club in the newly formed State Basketball League (SBL). The SBL was the brain-child of the then CEO of BWA, Alan Marshall. Perth won both the men's and women's SBL titles in 1989, and the men's title in 1990 all under coach Don Shepherd. Norm Majors coached Perth to the title in the 1997 season and Rod Justin coached the women's SBL team to its second SBL title in the year 2000. The women's team were also runners-up under coach Abe Kassab in 2001. In 1989, the PBA was also able to field six competitive junior boy's teams, six competitive junior girl's teams, and six men's and women's teams in the newly inaugurated Western Australian Basketball League (WABL) when it began in that year. A number of Redbacks have played for Australia; Andrew Vlahov and Luc Longley at Olympic level and several others at junior international level.
Dormant years
Since 2001, neither the men's or women's teams have made it back to the Grand Final despite numerous playoff appearances. For the men, club stalwarts Joel Wagner and Jarrad Prior have both spent time with the Perth Wildcats, winning NBL championships as development players in 2009–10.[1]
In 2014, the Redbacks signed highly credentialed import Stan Okoye, a former Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year as a college senior in the United States.[2] He and fellow import Lee Roberts led the Redbacks to a third-place finish with a 17–9 win/loss record, the best finish for the team since 2001 when they finished third with a 19–7 record. They were, however, eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions the East Perth Eagles.
Signed to replace Okoye for the 2015 season was Ray Turner, a 6'9" power forward from Houston coming off a QBL championship with the Rockhampton Rockets.[3] To add to an already impressive line-up, the Redbacks signed former Rio Grande Valley Viper Marshall Brown three days before the team's season opener.[4] After entering into Round 14 with a 6–11 win/loss record, the Redbacks announced on 13 June that the club had replaced Brown with another former Viper in 6'9" forward Raphiael Putney.[5] The Redbacks finished the 2015 season in 11th place and missed the playoffs with a 10–16 win/loss record. Despite the poor season, Turner was named league MVP,[6] becoming just the second male Redback to win the MVP award after Dwaine Michaels did so in 1997.
Current roster
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