Newcastle Falcons (basketball)
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Newcastle Falcons | |||
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Leagues | NBL, NBL1 | ||
Founded | 1979 | ||
Dissolved | 1999 | ||
History | Newcastle Falcons 1979–1999 | ||
Arena | Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium (1979–1991) Newcastle Entertainment Centre (1992–1999) | ||
Capacity | BBS – 2,200 NEC – 4,658 | ||
Location | Newcastle, New South Wales | ||
Team colors | Red, blue, white | ||
Championships | 0 | ||
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The Newcastle Falcons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's
History
The Falcons hold a special place in the history of the NBL with the club largely responsible for the formation of the league which also saw them organise the first season in 1979. The other clubs had to pay a fee of around AU$300 to the Falcons to participate in that first season and the city of Newcastle is regarded as the birthplace of the NBL.
The club's original colours were green and white, being the city's colours, but the club soon changed to black and red, and to red and blue, after the Newcastle Knights' admission to the New South Wales Rugby League in 1988. All the national league clubs in Newcastle took on red and blue as their colours at some stage in their existence.
The club's downfall began in the mid-1990s when problems with sponsor, clothing and sports equipment company
Home Arenas
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/NEC_Outside.jpg/200px-NEC_Outside.jpg)
After spending its first 13 seasons playing out of the 2,200 capacity
Post 1999
The city of Newcastle had no NBL team until the new owners of the Canberra Cannons moved to Newcastle and established the Hunter Pirates in 2003. The Pirates in turn withdrew from the NBL at the end of the 2005–2006 season after their licence was sold to the Singapore Slingers.
In 2011, past Falcons players reunited for a charity exhibition game at the Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium to raise funds for the Cancer Council.[1] Nathan Tinkler's Hunter Sports Group attempted to revive the Falcons NBL team around this time but was ultimately unsuccessful in doing so.[2][3]
The Falcons name was revived in 2021 when the Newcastle Hunters Waratah League basketball team announced that they would be changing their name to the Newcastle Falcons upon their admission to the NBL1 East competition in 2022.[4][5]
Honour roll
NBL Championships: | None |
NBL Finals Appearances: | 6 (1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1993, 1995) |
NBL Grand Final Appearances: | None |
NBL Most Valuable Players: | None |
NBL Grand Final MVPs: | None |
NBL Coach of the Year: | Bob Turner (1981), Tom Wisman (1995) |
NBL Rookie of the Year: | Scott McGregor (1996) |
NBL Most Improved Player: | Tonny Jensen (1995), Ben Pepper (1997), Ben Melmeth (1998) |
NBL Best Defensive Player: | Terry Dozier (1992, 1993) |
NBL Best Sixth Man: | Ben Pepper (1997) |
Season by season
NBL champions | League champions | Runners-up | Finals berth |
Season | Tier | League | Regular season | Post-season | Head coach | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finish | Played | Wins | Losses | Win % | ||||||
Newcastle Falcons | ||||||||||
1979 | 1 | NBL | 6th | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | Did not qualify | Bob Turner | |
1980 | 1 | NBL | 5th | 22 | 13 | 9 | .591 | Did not qualify | Dean Donnollon | |
1981 | 1 | NBL | 6th | 22 | 13 | 9 | .591 | Did not qualify | Bob Turner | |
1982 | 1 | NBL | 5th | 26 | 17 | 9 | .654 | Did not qualify | Bob Turner | |
1983 | 1 | NBL | 4th | 22 | 13 | 9 | .591 | Eliminated round robin 0–3 | Denis Kibble | |
1984 | 1 | NBL | 3rd | 24 | 18 | 6 | .750 | Won elimination final (Illawarra) 108–101 Lost qualifying final (Coburg) 109–132 |
Dave Ankeney | |
1985 | 1 | NBL | 6th | 26 | 16 | 10 | .615 | Won elimination final (Nunawading) 103–97 Lost semifinal (Adelaide) 103–151 |
Dave Ankeney | |
1986 | 1 | NBL | 10th | 26 | 10 | 16 | .385 | Did not qualify | Stephen Johansen | |
1987 | 1 | NBL | 12th | 26 | 6 | 20 | .231 | Did not qualify | Stephen Johansen Owen Wells | |
1988 | 1 | NBL | 5th | 24 | 13 | 11 | .542 | Lost elimination final (Canberra) 92–107 | Ken Cole | |
1989 | 1 | NBL | 12th | 24 | 6 | 18 | .250 | Did not qualify | Ken Cole | |
1990 | 1 | NBL | 13th | 26 | 4 | 22 | .154 | Did not qualify | Ken Cole | |
1991 | 1 | NBL | 14th | 26 | 5 | 21 | .192 | Did not qualify | Ken Cole Thomas Wisman | |
1992 | 1 | NBL | 12th | 24 | 9 | 15 | .375 | Did not qualify | Thomas Wisman | |
1993 | 1 | NBL | 5th | 26 | 15 | 11 | .577 | Lost quarterfinals (Brisbane) 0–2 | Thomas Wisman | |
1994 | 1 | NBL | 9th | 26 | 13 | 13 | .500 | Did not qualify | Thomas Wisman | |
1995 | 1 | NBL | 5th | 26 | 17 | 9 | .654 | Lost quarterfinals (Adelaide) 1–2 | Thomas Wisman | |
1996 | 1 | NBL | 9th | 26 | 11 | 15 | .423 | Did not qualify | Thomas Wisman | |
1997 | 1 | NBL | 9th | 30 | 12 | 18 | .400 | Did not qualify | Shawn Dennis | |
1998 | 1 | NBL | 11th | 30 | 9 | 21 | .300 | Did not qualify | Shawn Dennis | |
1998–99 | 1 | NBL | 10th | 26 | 9 | 17 | .346 | Did not qualify | Shawn Dennis | |
Regular season record | 526 | 237 | 289 | .451 | 0 regular season champions | |||||
Finals record | 13 | 3 | 10 | .231 | 0 NBL championships |
As of the end of the 1998–99 season
*Note: In 1983 and 1984, the NBL was split into Eastern and Western divisions during the regular season.
References
- ^ Keeble, Brett (9 August 2011). "Newcastle Falcons to fly again for charity". Newcastle Herald. Australian Community Media. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ Keeble, Brett (8 December 2010). "Tinkler's basketball shot slow and steady". Newcastle Herald. Australian Community Media. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ Keeble, Brett (23 September 2011). "Falcons basketballers reunite for charity". Newcastle Herald. Australian Community Media. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ Gardner, James (30 October 2021). "Newcastle basketball fans vote to resurrect Falcons". Newcastle Herald. Australian Community Media. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "TAKING FLIGHT". Newcastle Basketball. Retrieved 3 November 2021.