Superleague to reignite rivalries in 2010

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG Basketball Association’s vision for a new Victorian superleague could be realised as early as 2010 after Basketball Victoria last week supported the concept.
Dandenong and Big V league rival Sandringham ruffled some feathers at Basketball Victoria recently when they threatened to establish a rebel state league that would compete with the Big V and the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).
The clubs sent out a proposal paper to eight of Victoria’s other powerhouse organisations and invited them to join a revamped league – tentatively branded the Victorian Club Championship – which would be run by a board of club representatives.
The drastic measure was the result of growing frustration about the two-league structure which divides Dandenong and Sandringham from traditional rivals – and SEABL members – like Knox, Kilsyth and Nunawading.
The Dandenong-Sandringham partnership even went to the extent of securing a sponsor who would commit $60,000 to the new competition, but Basketball Victoria soon stepped in to douse the flames by agreeing to further discussions with the clubs.
It seems the paper got the desired response, because Basketball Victoria chief executive Wayne Bird last week commended the clubs for their ideas and revealed that a working party had been convened to review the structure of the competitions.
“The paper prompted a lot of reaction and some positive thinking,” Bird said.
“And now the working party will look positively at how we can make the level of competition better and improve the elite end of senior basketball in the state.”
Bird said the working party would report to stakeholders by the end of November – with an eye towards introducing changes for the 2010 season.
Asked whether there was a chance that the current structure would remain, Bird said he would be “very surprised and somewhat disappointed” if that was the case.
DBA general manager Peter Roach hailed the development as a significant victory for the exasperated clubs.
“Our intention was to rattle the cage a bit and get people thinking about the right way forward, and I think (the paper) had that effect,” he said.
Dandenong and Sandringham had been considering a move to the SEABL because of a lack of depth in the Big V’s top divisions, but the sympathetic hearing from Basketball Victoria convinced the clubs to hold off until at least 2010.
Roach said the shift was still likely if the new competition did not eventuate.
“Our board has made a commitment that we will be playing in the best league available come 2010, whether that means choosing between the two leagues or a new competition,” he said.
“If the case is the same as this year, that will be the SEABL.”
Roach said the club would now use the 2009 season to lay the foundations – on and off the court – for a new beginning in 2010.