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Southland Sharks
The Southland Sharks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Invercargill. The Sharks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Stadium Southland. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the SBS Bank Southland Sharks. Team history The Southland Sharks brand dates back to the 1990s when the Smokefree Southland Sharks competed in the Conference Basketball League (CBL) and won championships in 1995 and 1998. In 2002, a group of local businessmen launched a bid to enter a Southland team into the National Basketball League (NBL), but that attempt fell over late in the piece when the Community Trust of Southland declined a $150,000 application. In October 2009, Southland Basketball Association was granted a three-year NBL license. In December 2009, the Sharks were confirmed for the 2010 NBL season. The Sharks made playoff appearances in their first two seasons in the NBL, before missing the post-season in 2012. In 2013, the Sharks won thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Basketball League (New Zealand)
The National Basketball League (NBL) is a men's semi-professional basketball league in New Zealand. In 1981, a group of club and provincial teams came together to create a men's national basketball league. The following year, the league was brought under the management of the New Zealand Basketball Federation. The league quickly grew in size and popularity due to the influx of sponsors and American import players. The early 1990s held dwindling fortunes for New Zealand basketball, with reduced TV coverage, sponsorships, and crowd numbers. The sport's popularity increased in the 2000s with the success of the Tall Blacks and the introduction of the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian NBL. In the early days, Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington were the benchmark teams of the league. During the 1990s, Auckland and Nelson were the teams to beat, before Waikato joined Auckland as the dominant sides during the 2000s. During the 2010s, Wellington and Southland became the league's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |