Our Banners: Why Melbourne only flies United and Tigers

After adding another piece of history to the rafters at John Cain Arena with the club’s NBL21 Championship banner being unveiled at the club’s recent opening home game, Melbourne United wanted to share why the Club only hangs banners under the United and Tigers brand.

Melbourne United’s history is that of Melbourne Tigers after the franchise rebranded in 2014.

The Melbourne franchise does not claim to own or represent any other previous Victorian franchises, which is why the club only flies championship banners and retired jerseys from Melbourne Tigers and Melbourne United.

While the history of the Melbourne United franchise includes Melbourne Tigers, the NBL recognises Melbourne United as a new brand, which is why the league’s stats separate the Tigers and United.

As an extension of this, the Tigers retired jerseys are only retired for the Melbourne Tigers brand, not Melbourne United, which is why you still see players such as Matthew Dellavedova wearing #8, as Ray Gordon did proudly for the Melbourne Tigers.

As part of the 2014 rebrand, Melbourne United recognized that with so many past Victorian clubs no longer in existence, there is a lack of connection for past players and fans.

As such, Melbourne United endeavor to be a club welcoming to all of Victorian basketball.

To assist in recreating this connection with Victorian basketball stakeholders that currently do not have a home, Melbourne United has developed a new initiative to reconnect past players with the sport they love.

The inception of United’s new past player integration program forms part of that initiative, which sees former NBL players who played with Victorian teams being invited back to the club, through professional roles or purely to attend Melbourne United games.

Iconic rivals Ray Gordon (Tigers) and Andrew Parkinson (Magic) were the first two legends to attend a United game in its new Legends Box, while Lanard Copeland, Darryl MacDonald and Adam Ballinger (Giants, Tigers) have all joined the club in a professional capacity.

Moving forward, Melbourne United will continue to add new initiatives to drive connection and represent the history and prestige of Victorian basketball through its play on the court, and its actions within the community.