Falcons, Pirates, Hunters, Scorpions and Hustlers – Newcastle Basketball has been known as many things since its inaugural NBL season in 1979.
The former steel city that is reputed as being the birthplace of the NBL has just announced it boasts a new name to take into its next on-court battles.
‘The Newcastle Falcons are flying again’, said an email to club members on Saturday 30 October.
And, the name change comes at an opportune time.
Newcastle has been included in the NBL1 East competition for 2022 and the club feels it’s the right time to cement its new identity.
The Broadmeadow-based club is fielding both a men’s and women’s team next year, replacing the Basketball NSW Waratah League.
In an email to its members during the past fortnight, Newcastle Basketball asked its playing and non-playing community what name they preferred.
The options presented were Newcastle Falcons, Hunter Pirates, Newcastle Pirates, Newcastle Hunters, Newcastle Scorpions, Newcastle Hustlers or ‘other’.
Fifty-one per cent of respondents voted for Newcastle Falcons, and a return to red, white and blue colours.
“The board of directors were impressed by the level of response from the basketball community and we have accepted the outcome of the survey,” Newcastle Basketball general manager Neil Goffet said.
“The Newcastle Falcons was overwhelmingly the preferred option and the Board endorsed this as the new name of our junior and senior representative teams from 2022 onwards.
“We are cognisant of the sentiment attached to this decision but it was made responsibly and respectfully and we have committed to letting our history shape our future under the Falcons banner.”
Mr Goffet had earlier commented that 2022 signalled a new era for Newcastle Basketball.
“The NBL has joined forces with Basketball NSW in announcing details of the new NBL1 East competition, and the board and management of Newcastle Basketball saw this as an opportunity to potentially refresh and re-brand.
“It’s a very exciting time for basketball in NSW and indeed throughout Australia at the moment.
“We just thought the timing was right to have a look back over our shoulder before moving ahead with what promises to be an incredible era for the sport in this region.
“It’s always difficult implementing change because people get very passionate about their name, nickname or club colours and things like that.
“But we just thought it was time to perhaps let our history shape our future, and we want the basketball community to have their say.”
The survey listed names the association felt were some of the most popular names, with voters also asked if they had other suggestions.
Each member could only vote once.
The Newcastle Falcons, was the name the city played under as part of the inaugural NBL competition in 1979.
It became The Hunter Pirates during the 2003-2006 NBL seasons.
In 1983 the association entered a men’s team in the second-tier South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) and they were called the Newcastle Hunters.
The women’s team joined the SEABL competition in 1986 and were known as the Newcastle Scorpions, and the first nickname given to the association’s junior rep teams was the Newcastle Hustlers.
The Newcastle Pirates is a combination of the two former NBL clubs.
The NBL1 East competition is set to start in April, 2022 and will allow NSW to fall into line with other Australian states that have already joined forces with the privately owned NBL by playing in the second-tier NBL1 competition.
Victoria has been playing under the NBL1 South banner since 2019, while Queensland (NBL1 North), Western Australia (NBL1 West) and South Australia (NBL1 Central) joined forces with the NBL in 2020.
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