Hobart Chargers is a
NBL1 South
NBL1 South is a NBL1 conference based in South East Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2019, Basketball Victoria partnered with the National Basketball League (NBL) to create NBL1 to replace the South East Australi ...
club based in
Hobart, Tasmania
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...
. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The Chargers play their home games at the
Derwent Entertainment Centre
Derwent Entertainment Centre, also known as the DEC and known commercially as MyState Bank Arena, is the largest indoor arena in Tasmania and the multi-purpose arena is the primary venue in Hobart for large indoor functions/events. It was cons ...
and Kingborough Sports Centre.
Club history
Early years
In 1981, the Hobart Hornets entered the
South Eastern Basketball League (SEBL) for the league's inaugural season. After two seasons in the SEBL, the team withdrew from the league due to the introduction of the
Hobart Devils
The Hobart Devils are a defunct professional basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). Based in Hobart, Tasmania, the team was the only representative from the state of Tasmania for the majority of its tenu ...
in the
National Basketball League in 1983. The Hornets re-entered the SEBL, now known as the SEABL, in 1990.
Between 1990 and 1996, Hobart had seven straight seasons of missing the playoffs under coaches Denis Hyland (1990–91; 1993–95), Danny Adamson (1992), and Ross Park (1996).
Success of the Chargers
The Chargers name was born in 1997 after the demise of the Hobart Devils.
The Chargers immediately saw success as they won back-to-back
CBA South Conference championships in 1997 and 1998. In 2000 and 2002, they not only won their third and fourth South Conference titles, but were successful in claiming National Championship honours in both years. During this period, a Hobart Chargers women's team had an unsuccessful five-year run between 1998 and 2002, as they failed to make a playoff berth in that time.
The Chargers' inaugural coach, Mark Chivers, ended his 11-year tenure following the 2007 season.
In 2008, Dan Krebs took over as coach of the Chargers and guided them to their fifth South Conference title.
They went on to win the overall SEABL championship after defeating East Conference champions, the
Knox Raiders
Knox Raiders is a member club of the NBL1 South based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club fields both a men's and women's team. The club is a division of Knox Basketball Incorporated (KBI), the major administrative basketball or ...
, in a contest that earned the winning team a semi-finals place in the
Australian Club Championships. In the ACC semi-finals, the Chargers defeated the
Melbourne Tigers
Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena.
The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 as ...
128–126 to move on to the grand final. There they were defeated 103–99 by the
Rockhampton Rockets
The Rockhampton Rockets are an Australian basketball team based in Rockhampton, Queensland. The Rockets compete in the Men's NBL1 North and play their home games at Adani Arena. The team is affiliated with Rockhampton Basketball Inc., the major ...
to finish as national runners-up. Despite his successful season with the Chargers, Krebs was replaced as coach in 2009 with former NBL player
Anthony Stewart.
In 2010, the Lady Chargers re-entered the league. In 2014, they made their way through to their first ever conference final.
New era of Hobart basketball
In September 2016, former Tasmanian Labor premier,
David Bartlett
David John Bartlett (born 19 January 1968) is an Australian former politician in the state of Tasmania, serving as the 43rd Premier of Tasmania from May 2008 until January 2011. He was a Labor Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly s ...
, was appointed president of the Chargers.
Bartlett's immediate aim was to have the club be "NBL ready" in three years. He also set his sights on having both the men and women play in three finals series and win at least one championship over those three years,
and acquire a new home venue for the club – for more than a decade, the Chargers had played at the Hobart Netball and Sports Centre, but were forced to train at New Town High and Warrane Stadium because the centre was not available during the week. Although the men's team bounced back from two years in the playoff wilderness to reach the South Conference final in 2016, the club still had numerous issues off the court at the time of Bartlett's appointment, including being $120,000 in debt.
Financial problems almost resulted in the men's team being booted from the 2016 SEABL playoffs, while questions remained about the financial security of the women's program.
In November 2016, David Bartlett boldly declared his long-term vision of averaging 3,000 fans for SEABL matches after securing a deal which saw basketball in Hobart return to its spiritual home. After nearly two months of negotiations with the Glenorchy City Council – and having landed a third major sponsor in Schweppes – the Chargers announced that they would play home SEABL contests at the
Derwent Entertainment Centre
Derwent Entertainment Centre, also known as the DEC and known commercially as MyState Bank Arena, is the largest indoor arena in Tasmania and the multi-purpose arena is the primary venue in Hobart for large indoor functions/events. It was cons ...
from 2017 onwards. Bartlett's next goal was to update the club to a new look by refreshing their brand within the southern basketball community. With the help of Chargers members, supporters and basketball fans, a new logo and playing strip was introduced for the 2017 season.
In October 2017, Bartlett declared a Tasmanian NBL side could be competitive with a yearly budget of $5 million.
In August 2018, the men's team won the SEABL championship. Around that time, plans to get the Chargers into the NBL morphed into an overarching Tasmanian bid for a proposed new club to be called
Southern Huskies
The Auckland Tuatara are a semi-professional basketball team based in Auckland, New Zealand. The Tuatara compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Eventfinda Stadium. Founded in Tasmania in 2019 as the Southe ...
.
The SEABL was disbanded following the 2018 season and was replaced by
NBL1
NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia, consisting of NBL1 South, South, NBL1 North, North, NBL1 Central, Central, NBL1 West, West and NBL1 East, East Conferences with both men's and women's compet ...
, of which the Chargers chose not to compete in.
On 30 September 2019, following the demise of the Southern Huskies, the Chargers submitted an application for entry into the 2020 NBL1 season. On 19 October 2019, they were granted entry into NBL1. Later that month, Bartlett stepped down as president of the Chargers. The NBL1 South season did not go ahead in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
In 2022, the men's team won the NBL1 South Grand Final to claim the championship.
References
External links
Chargers' official website
{{NBL1
South East Australian Basketball League teams
Basketball teams established in 1981
Basketball teams in Tasmania
Sport in Hobart