Basketball On The Internet.

THE outpouring of sadness, anger, passion and vitriol ahead of today’s announcements regarding the future of the NBL’s Melbourne Tigers makes for interesting viewing from a distance.

Yesterday word leaked Melbourne would abandon its Tigers connection and today take on a new face as “Melbourne United”.

It will be promoted as a bold bid to connect to the non-committed, disenfranchised or disaffected NBL fans and those basketballers at rival Victorian clubs who cannot come at supporting the Tigers at elite level after battling the club throughout junior levels.

Purely from an outsider’s point of view, it makes some marketing sense to have the club evolve into something greater than it has been but already the backlash across social media – even before full details have been revealed – suggests passionate Tigers fans are ready to storm the barricades.

It is as if there is an assumption that by changing the club’s name, all of its history immediately is binned, made redundant or worse, rendered worthless.

I don’t quite get that.

When Townsville Suns evolved to Townsville Crocodiles, no history was lost.

Similarly when Illawarra Hawks became Wollongong Hawks, the history and tradition continued and no-one even remembers Perth Wildcats’ early days as the Westate Wildcats.

In fact, even Melbourne Tigers once were better known nationwide as Melbourne Church in the pre-NBL days.

But hardcore Tigers folk are passionate, as proven last year with their “sky is falling” fears when Bulleen Boomers had the audacity to alter their WNBL name to the more encompassing Melbourne Boomers.

Just as Tigers fans are up in arms now, so too were many Bulleen stalwarts and past champions, lamenting the loss of the club’s name and change to its colors.

(A lot of those who said “it can never be the same” were back in the fold as Guy Molloy’s young Melbourne Boomers bravely fought their way into the playoffs last season, but that’s another story.)

Resistance to change is nothing new and nor is an emotional knee-jerk reaction.

If only the name and colors are changing – and the people paying the bills have worked out that those alterations will be in the club’s long-term best interest – then the retired numbers, championship banners and history of the Tigers is not lost, surely?

But here’s the rub.

The brand names of Perth Wildcats, Adelaide 36ers, Sydney Kings and Melbourne Tigers are by far the best established in Australia’s mainstream marketplace.

(Even the currently dormant Brisbane Bullets name still has considerable cache.)

While the argument can be made – and I have made it myself – that it is difficult to turn a state on to supporting a team at elite level when it has been a hated enemy for years at lower levels, here’s a powerful contradictory fact.

The three largest crowds in Victoria’s NBL history are 15,366, 15,129 and 15,122.

They were the attendances for Grand Final matches between Melbourne Tigers and South East Melbourne Magic in 1996, Melbourne Tigers and South East Melbourne in 1994 and a regular season Melbourne Tigers against North Melbourne Giants in 1994 respectively.

The common denominator in all three record attendances?

Melbourne Tigers.

Not bad going for a club now looking to attract new fans.

For a brand looking to rebrand, the more pertinent question today seems to be: How did we lose those fans?

Perhaps a lack of success contributed because this past season, as the Tigers re-emerged as a Championship contender, The Cage regularly was packed and Melbourne also enjoyed crowds in excess of 5,000 for matches at Hisense Arena.

The Tigers’ bus, clinics and greater connection to the community also translated into bums-on-seats.

Will changing the club’s name and colors now achieve the same or was Melbourne on the right track anyway?

The fact is, even though this new “Melbourne United” has a grand and noble plan to bring past Titans, Magic, Giants, Dragons, Saints (etcetera) fans under its united banner, it really cannot.

Even though it may wish to acknowledge those past great clubs and maybe dust off their Championship banners and retired uniforms, it has no right or mandate to do so.

Had Melbourne United been a merged club in the manner Victoria Titans were the amalgam of South East Melbourne Magic and North Melbourne Giants, then it could embrace the various respective histories.

But it isn’t.

It is Melbourne Tigers switching to Melbourne United so the only history it owns is the Tigers’ history.

It is a grand history too, with names such as Gaze, Copeland, Bradtke, Giddey, Anstey, and worthy of proper preservation.

Not convinced “United” does that, for all its positive intent.

And contrary to social media dispatches, the intent was and is positive.

Just not sure it is right.

 

AS for those who have lumped the name United straight into the “it sounds like a soccer team” category, I must confess that also was my first reaction.

Club sporting names such as “United” or “City” tacked onto a place-name definitely have soccer implications.

(Although the Adelaide 36ers DID start their lives as “Adelaide City” but that was ditched after just one season.)

Just as long as Melbourne United doesn’t later decide its nickname should be “Red Devils” the Tigers probably can get away with it in the NBL.

My info is the colors will embrace Victoria, further distancing Melbourne from its Tiger roots.

Having seen Adelaide 36ers start in state colors, then shift to predominantly white uniforms, then red, then blue, back to red and now blue again – often at the whim of a naming rights sponsor – United changing its colors obviously is in line with the direction the club’s ownership now wishes to take.

But if the new-look of United does not take in some reference to its Melbourne Tigers history – as the AFL’s Western Bulldogs acknowledge their Footscray roots or Brisbane Lions acknowledge their Fitzroy/Brisbane Bears roots – then expect the new Melbourne to start with no fan base at all.

And that would be the biggest tragedy of all.

 

Online

WAS lucky enough to catch up yesterday with Aussie basketball great and NBA superstar Andrew Bogut for this report for News Corp: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/australian-superstar-andrew-bogut-says-his-body-will-dictate-world-cup-aspirations/story-fnii09gt-1226923174092

 

TOMORROW: Yes, I know I promised you the Opals today but the United news had to take precedent. The Opals will be here tomorrow!