Launceston Casino City

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Launceston Casino City
LeaguesNBL
Founded1980
Dissolved1982
HistoryLaunceston Casino City
1980–1982
ArenaDowling Street Stadium
LocationLaunceston, Tasmania
Team colorsYellow, red, dark green
     
Head coachCurtis Coleman
Championships1 (1981)

Launceston Casino City 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 Launceston Casino City were last coached by Curtis Coleman.

History[]

The Launceston Casino City 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 24-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 . 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 (INCORRECT). The Launceston Casino City was never the Tigers, 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

Season by season[]

Season Division League Regular season Post-season Head Coach
Finish Played Wins Losses Win %
Launceston Casino City
1980 1 NBL 8th 22 9 13 .409 Did Not Qualify Rex Johnstone
Phil Thomas
1981 1 NBL 2nd 22 14 8 .636 Won Semi-Finals (Brisbane, 71–69)
Won Grand Final (Nunawading, 75–54) 		Jim Ericksen
1982 1 NBL 13th 26 5 21 .192 Did Not Qualify Curtis Coleman
Regular season record 70 28 42 .400 0 Minor premiers
Playoff record 2 2 0 1.000 1 NBL Championships

As of the end of the 1982 season

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[permanent dead link]', 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

External links[]

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