Launceston Casino City Tigers

The Launceston Casino City Tigers are a defunct Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). Formed in 1980, the club was based in Launceston, Tasmania. It lasted only three seasons before folding, but won the NBL Championship in 1981. The Tigers were coached by Max Pike.

Launceston Casino City Tigers
LeaguesNBL
Founded1980
Dissolved1982
HistoryLaunceston Casino City Tigers
1980–1982
ArenaDowling Street Stadium
LocationLaunceston, Tasmania
Team colorsYellow, Red
         
Head coachMax Pike
Championships1 (1981)

History

The Tigers entered the NBL competition with a grant from the Government of Tasmania and the support of the developers of the state's second casino.[1] Their highest profile player was 23-year-old Ian Davies, who played for the Australian team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and later at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

In its first season the team finished ninth in the 12-team NBL competition, winning nine of its 22 games. Davies was named in the 1980 All NBL First Team.

In the 1981 NBL season Launceston Casino City improved to 14 wins and finished fourth in the regular season. In the first semi-final, which consisted of a single sudden-death game, the Launceston Casino City defeated the Brisbane Bullets 71 to 69 points. They then met the Nunawading Spectres in the Grand Final at Apollo Stadium in Adelaide, which they won 75 to 54 points to claim the NBL Championship.

In its third and final NBL season in 1982, the Launceston Casino City won 5 games and finished 12th.

Michael Parsons, who went on to play in the South Australian National Football League with the North Adelaide Roosters and the Australian Football League with the Sydney Swans, played for the Tigers. Cliff Martin also played for the Casino City as an American import player.

The Launceston Casino City basketball team folded in 1983.

In 2009 it was reported that the championship cup and banner that was won by the team in 1981 was missing.[2] The banner was found in a Hobart shed ten years later.[3]

Launceston Casino City was the second of three NBL clubs who would use the Tigers moniker, the others being the Adelaide based Glenelg Tigers who played in 1979, and the Melbourne Tigers who played from 1984–2014 before becoming Melbourne United.

Honour roll
NBL Championships: 1 (1981)
NBL Finals Appearances: 1 (1981)
NBL Grand Final Appearances: 1 (1981)
NBL Most Valuable Players: None
NBL Grand Final MVPs: None
All-NBL First Team: Ian Davies (1980)
NBL Coach of the Year: None
NBL Rookie of the Year: None
NBL Most Improved Player: None
NBL Best Defensive Player: None
NBL Best Sixth Man: None
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References
  1. Basketball Australia, 'Back in the Day: Tin shed artists', 3 February 2012, retrieved 24 April 2012.
  2. Laura Oldfield, 'Hunt for Casino City's lost silverware', The Examiner, 22 May 2009, viewed 26 April 2012.
  3. https://www.examiner.com.au/story/6359966/unfurling-the-past-a-lost-tale-of-a-former-nbl-club/?cs=12
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