NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered with the National Basketball League (NBL) to bring

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 ...

to Queensland. NBL1 replaced the former QBL to create more professional pathways and opportunities for males and females playing basketball in Queensland. As a result, the QBL became the north conference of NBL1. In 2022, the league will expanded into the Northern Territory with a club from Darwin.

History

The league was formed in 1986 as the Queensland State Basketball League. In 1994, the league merged with the South and East conferences of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) to form a North conference. 1998 saw further CBA expansion with the inclusion of a Central Conference from

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The CBA was renamed the

Australian Basketball Association The Australian Basketball Association (ABA) was a semi-professional basketball entity based in Australia. The ABA was Australia's biggest basketball competition for many years. With over 120 teams participating across five leagues and six states ...

(ABA) for the 1999 season and later added the

Big V Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

and the

Waratah League The NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2021, Basketball New South Wales and the National B ...

for a total of six conferences. As a member of the ABA, the league took on the name of Queensland Australian Basketball League (QABL) in the early 2000s and set up a division system to separate the north and south teams within the state. The Sunstate (North Queensland) and Southern Cross (South Queensland) divisions were a big part of the league for a number of years, remaining in tacked up until the 2006 season. Following the 2006 season, the QABL restructured the competition, which saw the two divisions combining to have a statewide league of only one division for the 2007 season. In 2009, the QABL became known as the QBL following the demise of the Australian Basketball Association. In October 2019, Basketball Queensland and the National Basketball League (NBL) announced a new partnership to bring

to Queensland in 2020, with NBL1 replacing the QBL. On 15 January 2020, the QBL was officially renamed NBL1 North and became the north conference of NBL1. However, due to the

coronavirus 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 identified ...

, the 2020 season was cancelled. For the 2022 season, the NBL1 North had a club from Darwin – the

Darwin Salties Darwin Salties is a NBL1 North club based in Darwin, Northern Territory. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 North. The club is run under the joint management of Darwin Basketball Association (DBA) and Basketball Northern ...

– represented for the first time under the joint management of Darwin Basketball Association (DBA) and

Basketball Northern Territory Basketball Northern Territory (BNT) is the governing body of basketball in the Northern Territory, Australia. BNT was founded as Northern Territory Basketball Association (NTBA) in 1948. Basketball was administered by NTBA until 1963, when its ...

(BNT). It saw the NBL1 become the first Australian sport league to have clubs based in and playing out of every state and territory in Australia.

Current clubs

''*Teams that transferred from QBL.''

List of Champions

References

External links

* {{Basketball in Australia NBL1 Queensland Basketball League Basketball in Queensland

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

Sports leagues established in 1986 1986 establishments in Australia