The Hunter Pirates are a defunct

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n professional men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). It was based in the city of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Team history

The team was once known as the

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After t ...

, one of the foundation members of the NBL (the others were the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

Illawarra Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games ...

and

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to th ...

). At the end of the 2002–03 season, new owners moved the team to Newcastle and renamed the franchise the ''Hunter Pirates'', keeping with the maritime battlers theme. The Pirates new home arena was the 4,658 seat

Newcastle Entertainment Centre Newcastle Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose Australian arena within the Newcastle Showgrounds. It was opened in 1992 at a cost of . The centre's original tenant was the Newcastle Falcons NBL team who moved to the new venue in 1992 from th ...

. In its first season, 2003–04, the team came last, winning only two games. Initial coach

Bruce Palmer Bruce Palmer (September 9, 1946 – October 1, 2004) was a Canadian musician best known as the bassist in the seminal Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Early y ...

was controversially fired partway into the season and was replaced by assistant coach David Simmons. In 2004–05, former

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...

Australian Boomers The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...

and

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

coach

Dr. Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...

Adrian Hurley was employed as the head coach. A mostly-retooled team produced much better results, finishing 8th with a 15–17 record. The Pirates made the NBL Playoffs, only to be eliminated by the

in the opening round. Adrian Hurley quit at the end of the 2005–06 season after the Hunter Pirates were beaten by the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

in the playoffs. The club did have plans in the next few years to move from the Entertainment Centre to a new stadium to be built at the Stockland Supercentre out at

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

, a suburb of Newcastle but this never eventuated. The Pirates withdrew from the NBL competition at the end of the 2005/06 season due to financial difficulties and their inability to secure a major sponsor, and the club's NBL licence was put up for sale. It was revealed on NBN News that, in an effort to remain in the competition, the club had considered turning itself into a not-for-profit organisation, thereby able to access various grants. In the end, the Pirates' licence was sold to a Singapore consortium, and the

Singapore Slingers The Singapore Slingers is a Singaporean professional basketball team that currently compete in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with Job ...

began competing in the 2006–07 season.

Honour Roll

Source: www.nbl.com.au

Season by season

References

External links

* 2003 establishments in Australia 2006 disestablishments in Australia Basketball teams established in 2003 Basketball teams disestablished in 2006 Basketball teams in New South Wales Defunct National Basketball League (Australia) teams Sport in Newcastle, New South Wales {{Australia-basketball-team-stub