Perth Redbacks
| Perth Redbacks | |
| Established | 1964 |
| Team Colours | Home Red and Black
Away White and Red |
| Home Venue | Belmont Oasis Center |
| Major Sponsor | Bank of Queensland |
| Championships | Men 1989, 1990, 1997
Women 1989, 2000 |
| Coach | Men David Harris
Women Glen Ellis |
| Website | http://www.perth.basketball.net.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). As of 2013, the club's main sponsor is Bank of Queensland and the club is known as the BOQ Redbacks.
History
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 sixties. 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 3-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, like Symons all former UWA students. Bob Symons was the captain and coach of the new men's team. An A reserve team was also formed to take up the other interested players. Almost immediately the club experienced success. In the 1965 season Perth defeated YMCA-Perth in that season’s grand final. This success was followed by wins in 1970 and 1973 Grand Finals and runners-up in 1968 and 1975.
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 skillful 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. In 1973 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 did not join the District competition and either merged with other Associations or played in the lower ranked Metropolitan (Metro) competition. In 1975 The Perth Men’ Basketball club became known as the Perth Basketball Association in keeping with the new structure. In the 1975 season a strong Perth Men’s team was defeated by 2 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 found it difficult to catch up with a strong women's program but by the mid eighties it had succeeded in doing so, thanks to the hard work of players, former players and with the support of interested parents.
In 1983, when the Perth Wildcats entered Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) several players from the PBA were in the Wildcats squad including Ed Cecins, Brad Cecins and Ian Frame. In 1984 teams from the PBA became known as the Perth Redbacks, 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. In 1984 the PBA began a very successful pre-season junior tournament for SBL clubs known as the Junior Redback Classic which in 2010 celebrated its 26th year.
Between 1975 and 1989 the PBA continued to have a strong junior development program. 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 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.
The PBA currently competes in the 14-team SBL and the 13-team WSBL, and has been very successful, especially during the late 1980s and 90s due,in part, to the presence of Andrew Vlahov who went on to play at Stanford University and to Captain the Perth Wildcats, and Luc Longley who went on to play in the NBA and win three championship rings with the Chicago Bulls. Ryan Neil joined the team in the mid-90's from Cockburn Cougars, in his career he has received a great deal of awards including SBL League MVP. The club has captured the men's championship on 3 occasions, 1989, 1990 and 1997 while the women have won the championship twice, in 1989 and 2000. In 2007 the Redbacks had a disappointing season with the men's team finishing with a record 5 wins and 19 losses in 12th place, and the women, despite having a winning season, finishing in 9th place just outside of the playoffs.
In 2010 both the Senior teams made the play-offs but failed to win their respective championships. Over the last ten years the PBA has not experienced the success at the top level that many of its members would have liked but the Association continues to promote an active junior development program which provides opportunities for young men and women to play the game of basketball to their full potential within the recognized basketball structure in Western Australia. The PBA also provides an important conduit for players and officials to participate and play in the SBL, NBL, WSBL and WNBL.