Cairns Basketball Inc. History
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Cairns Basketball Inc. was formed in 1958 with the first fixtures being held that year. In 1963 Cairns Basketball Inc. moved to a permanent home on the corner of Aumuller and Gatton Streets. This is the site that the association still occupies to this day.
After initially delivering basketball with outdoor courts, in 1980 the first indoor court was added to the site. This was enhanced in 1994 to expand the seating and add a canteen, change rooms and offices.
To combat the extremely hot and humid conditions that Cairns experiences, in 1997 the association financed the construction of an additional court, Court 2, and installed air-conditioning in both Courts 1 and 2.
Offices for the Cairns Taipans NBL Team were added in 1999 and then, in 2003, Courts 3 and 4 were added, expanding the facility to four (4) air-conditioned courts. The facility was subsequently expanded in 2019 to add a fifth, air-conditioned court and, in conjunction with Central Queensland University, a sports science facility and classroom has been added.
Cairns Basketball joined the Queensland State League in 1987, the first year of the League. The League has had a variety of names over the years, but this is currently NBL1 North. The men’s team, the Marlins, has won this championship nine (9) times, which is more than any other association in the league:
1993 DEF. BURDEKIN WILDCATS
1994 DEF. SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS
1997 DEF. SUNCOAST CLIPPERS
1998 DEF. TOWNSVILLE HEAT
2001 DEF. BRISBANE CAPITALS
2004 DEF. TOWNSVILLE HEAT
2007 DEF. GOLD COAST GOANNAS
2009 DEF. BRISBANE CAPITALS
2016 DEF. BRISBANE CAPITALS
The Cairns Basketball women’s team, the Dolphins, has won the championship once, in 1994 defeating the Ipswich Eagles.
Cairns Basketball has also been very successful with Junior State Championships having won the prestigious Vince Hickey Award, which is awarded to the association with the best State Championships results overall, twice, in 2017 and 2019.
Cairns Basketball’s rich history of on-court success has seen several Cairns Basketball athletes enjoying success on both the national and world stage with Rayleen Lynch (Decker), Aron Baynes, Jenny Evans, and Nate Jawai representing Australia at both World Championships and Olympics.
To further demonstrate how far Cairns Basketball has come since its inception in 1958, 2019 saw seven (7) Cairns Basketball Juniors, Aron Baynes, Nathan Jawai, Kody Stattmann, Tamuri Wigness, Shaneice Swain, Indiah Bowyer and Ky Stattmann selected to represent Australia at FIBA sanctioned International events. A truly remarkable achievement for any sporting association, let alone a small basketball association from Regional Queensland.