Bulleen Boomers (Big V)

Club history

The Bulleen-Templestowe Basketball Club was founded in 1969. The club’s Bulleen Boomers secured a licence to join the Women’s National Basketball League for the 1984 season. The Boomers were among the first teams in the South East Australian Basketball League when it launched in 1981. In 1983, they placed second in the SEABL regular season and advanced to the ABA National grand final, where the Melbourne Tigers beat them. The next year, they again finished second in the regular season and won the national title by defeating the Chelsea Gulls. A third straight ABA National grand final appearance came in 1985, after a third-place regular season finish, but the Kilsyth Cobras took the win. The Boomers claimed the SEABL East Conference championship in 1988 and returned to the ABA National grand final, losing to the Bendigo Braves. They repeated as East Conference champions in 1989. In 1990, they came second in the SEABL South Conference regular season and reached their fifth ABA National grand final, beating the Ballarat Miners for a second national championship. American guard Drederick Irving played for the Boomers in 1992 under coach Brett Brown. The Boomers left the SEABL after the 1996 season. A separate Bulleen women’s state league team started in the Country Victorian Invitation Basketball League Division One in 1994 but withdrew after 1995. In 1998, both Bulleen’s men’s and women’s teams joined the Victorian Basketball League’s second division. The men’s side moved up to the VBL Premier Division in 1999, while the women’s team won the second-division championship that same year.