You guys also had Hunter Pirates 2003-2005.

More info here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Pirates

Yeah but are main team was the Falcons

Newcastle is the 2nd biggest city in NSW so it should be sustainable.

I take it you mean Newcastle Falcons was your first team. Hunter Pirates was a 'Main Team' for Newcastle as well.

Whatever happened to the Newcastle Pirate Falcons?

Hunter Pirates are still alive within Larry Davidson

The Falcons had a great future in the front court in 1997 with Ben Melmeth, Ben Pepper, and Scott Mcgregor. They also had the underrated but talented Tonny Jensen at shooting guard.

Unfortunately, the Falcons lost both Ben Pepper and Scott Mcgregor to the Giants and Kings respectively. In my opinion they would of been better served staying Newcastle as I thought both were a bad fit for their new teams. Melmeth would have a great season after they left, where he was in the running for the MVP.

I don't think the crowds were sell outs. In fact they were pretty mediocre- I remember hearing they were thinking of leavening the Newcastle Entertainment Centre before they folded because it was too expensive. I think the stadium could pack 5000, but I could be wrong on that.


After they folded- they played a tribute match and burned the nets as a symbolic moment. You can see the game highlights on a news report here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNIcHdaCxoc

Falcons went downhill as soon as they shifted games from Newcastle Stadium at Broadmeadow to the larger Entertainment Centre. Atmosphere went from fantastic to terrible.

Would love to see them return, there is certainly a market for an NBL team in Newcastle and quite a few talents have come out of the area.

Average crowds for the Falcons post-1992, after the move to the NEC, were in the mid-2,000s. They drew a few sellouts in the mid-'90s, usually against the Kings. Capacity in those days was about 4,200; it was increased to 4,600 in 1998 with the move to summer.

As to how popular and well-known they were, I'd liken it to how the Jets are thought of today - very much number two, but with a really passionate core group of fans. In the '90s, the Breakers (who eventually became the Jets, sort of) were in the number three slot, they drew comparable crowds to the Falcons.

From memory the impetus behind the breakup of the "Triple Towers" of 1997 was the collapse of their naming rights sponsor (they also sponsored the Breakers, so it was bad times all around for anyone who wasn't the Knights). Butch Hays went to the Giants too, but I think he came back midway through the '98 season.

Just before the first summer season they went into receivership, and there were two offers made to buy them - one from the biggest club in Newcastle, and one from a consortium from Albury who eventually had all their assets frozen by the federal government. Guess who the receivers picked?

That was a tough pill to swallow - they were on top of the table at the start of '98/'99, with the Johnson brothers and Hays in the backcourt feeding it to Pat Reidy and Ben Melmeth. Then Ben went down with an ankle injury, their second import (Todd Mundt) was sacked for punching Paul Rees, and it was all downhill from there.

I haven't heard any plans for the 2015/16 expansion window, and I think the NBL have already decided where they'd like the next four teams to come from, but I'm still convinced there's a market in Newy for an NBL team. The Hunters occasionally get over 1,000 to Broadmeadow, and that's in the Waratah League...

Just on triple towers break up. I know that the Falcons accused Brett Brown of using he's position as assistant boomers coach to recruit Ben Pepper. Pepper was on the Australian squad- Brown denied the charge.

Anyone who complains about the Falcons moving to Newcastle Entertainment Centre don't realize that they had to, to stay in the NBL. NBL had a condition that teams in the comp had to play in venues that were atleast 5000 seated. While NEC may of not been 5000, it was certainly close to it. It's one of the reasons why the Gold Coast Rollers were kicked out of the Comp.

From memory Butch Hays played for the North Melbourne Giants after they sacked their import late in the last winter season in 1998. Hays then came back to the falcons in the first summer season in 1998/1999 as a player coming off the bench.

Just out of interest the last winter season in 1998. The falcons sacked there import and got Isacc Burton after the points shaving scandal. Burton noted he was relieved to get another opportunity with the Falcons because he said NBL teams ( North Melbourne Giants) didn't want to have anything to do with him after the scandal. Burton probably played out of position at small forward with the Falcons and didn't really have the success he had with the Kings playing at the shooting guard spot. I remember against the Townsville Suns Burton caught a reverse alleyoop and slammed it home. The Newcastle crowd went wild and after the Suns called a timeout- Burton went back the bench encouraging more applause for what he had done.

I hope when/if the NBL expands to 16 teams Newcastle is included.

I'd welcome them immediately but they won't be back until the second group of 4 team additions and hopefully the Hunter will be all excited and they advertise it like basketball deserves and we get a sustainable Newcastle team and hopefully those deserving can have their jersey retired.

thanks guys for the replies! Can't wait to see them back and maybe play for them one day!

Good luck Luke and hopefully you find your way onto the roster