Over 9000 fans turned out to watch the NBL Dragons hammer the Tigers by a whopping 28 points on Saturday night down in Melbourne.
It was a strong performance by the Dragons and the crowd.
Sadly the night before when ex Kings coach Brian Goorjian took his team to Sydney only 1000 fans turned out to watch the Spirit go down by a measly 5 points.
The Spirit have shown they can mix it with the best and improve each time they take the floor.
What does this say about sport in Melbourne v sport in Sydney?
Is it just the NBL Sydney sports fans don’t like or is it the newly named Spirit not receiving the support hoped for after the collapse of the Kings?
Hayden
Guest
Basketball is defintely not dead in Melbourne The South Dragons are going gang busters and are continuely drawing good crows compared to all clubs. Check out every teams crowd averages on www.southdragons.fbhosting.com
paul
Guest
Basketball is a dead sport in Sydney. the problem is once you get a rep as a backward sport, nothing will save you. Everyone knows the Kings went down the drain, the razorbacks were never very well supported and this new team is just them rebadged. It has a lot of work to do to get any cred back in this town.
Trevor
Roar Pro
So maybe Sydney basketball fans are like Perth sports fans and have jumped off the bandwagon since the collapse of the Kings? And Melbourne fans are drunk on the success of the Tigers and the Goorjian factor at the Dragons?
JB
Guest
No way are there more basketball fans in Melbourne that football fans in Perth. The difference is that Victorians will watch any sport and their government promotes any event well. In Perth we have fairweather fans drunk on the early-90s success of the Eagles and early-21st century success of Glory. Everyone over here hops off the bandwagon when a team is down, it happens across all codes to varying degrees. We have huge numbers playing football and it's the same with football viewers on Fox Sports. The problem is that Glory, until yesterday, were playing crap football - nobody wants to watch it.
James Ward
Roar Rookie
Considering the state of the NBL 9,000 is amazing. Wasn't there only hundreds at a recent Sydney game? It's amazing how far the NBL has fallen this year. It hardly gets any press.
Dave
Guest
TT Basketball IMO is the 3rd biggest team sport, behind AFL and football, in Melb. It has a huge number of junior participants with tournaments running throughout the year. Very popular in the school setting in particular. My statement stands re the 2 Rugby's who it must be said have at least started to put some effort into development of Juniors in recent years.
True Tah
Guest
Dave, I just think its great that basketball may well get its act together as a professional sport in this country, its a fantastic sport that has many participants, but a hell of a lot of these kids end up looking at other sports if they want to make a career out of it. A successful NBL may turn this around. It has had a lean period since the late 1990s, and if things can turn around for them as a viable professional sport, then kudos to them.
Dave
Guest
TT No... but we have more Basketball fans in Melb than both Rugby'codes put together.
Trevor
Roar Pro
The Substitute, Seems to be a bit of rivalry over the playing venues in Melbourne with Brian Goorjian calling for exactly that. If both teams meet in the playoffs surely the league would have to look somewhere like Rod Laver as opposed to the Cage. I can't see the league keeping this season insignificant given the start so far. There's so many teams in the mix, the stage is set for a cracker season. I know Sydney's got off to an ordinary start but they've shown some real potential. I just hope the fans up there can come and give them some real support.
The Substitute
Roar Rookie
Trevor, Good to hear some hoops on this site. I don't see this rivalry cooling down from here. With the Dragons playing out of Hisense and the Tigers out of the 3,500-seat Cage, do you think its possible that Rod Laver Arena might come back in to the fray, if only if these two teams meet in the playoffs? The NBL probably wouldn't like it, they are trying to make this season as insignificant as possible, but in the end it can only be good for the game. True Tah, Maybe even basketball in Perth has overtaken futbol... On the same day that the Glory pulled only 4,400 to a game with Wellington Phoenix, the Wildcats matched that figure against the South Dragons!
True Tah
Guest
So there are more basketball fans in Melbourne than futbol fans in Perth???