Dandenong Rangers is an

NBL1 South NBL1 South is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria (state), Victoria and Tasmania, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2019, Basketball Victoria partnered with the National Basketball League (Australia), ...

club based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Dandenong Basketball Association (DBA), the major administrative basketball organisation in the

City of Greater Dandenong The City of Greater Dandenong is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of just under 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) and 166,094 residents in 2018. 29% of its land area forms par ...

. The Rangers play their home games at Dandenong Stadium.

Club history

First SEABL stint

Dandenong Basketball Association was established in 1959. In 1981, the Rangers were inaugural members of the

South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

(SEABL). In 1985, they won their first SEABL championship. In 1986, they won the SEABL East Conference championship. In 1984, a Rangers women's team was an inaugural member of the

Women's Basketball Conference The Women's Basketball Conference (WBC) was a women's basketball league in Australia. The WBC began in 1984 and served as a second-tier national league under the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). It operated for six seasons until it wa ...

(WBC). The Rangers won in 1989 and played in the inaugural SEABL women's competition in 1990 after the WBC was adopted by the SEABL. They went undefeated in 1990 and 1991 and won back-to-back SEABL championships alongside back-to-back ABA National championships. The team withdrew from the SEABL following the 1991 season, which coincided with the Dandenong Rangers WNBL team making their debut in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL) in the 1992 season. A Rangers SEABL women's team was re-established in 1994. The Rangers won the men's East Conference championship in 1997, the women's league championship in 2001, and the men's East Conference championship in 2004.

Big V

Following the 2004 season, the Rangers withdrew from the SEABL and entered the

Big V The Big V is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. History The Big V Conference was established in 2000 and joined the Australian Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA ...

in 2005. The men's team finished runners-up in their first season in the Big V. In 2006, the men's team won the Big V championship with a 2–0 grand final series victory over the Sandringham Sabres. The women's team finished runners-up in 2006 after losing 2–0 to Sandringham in the grand final. Both teams played in the

2006 ABA National Finals The 2006 ABA National Finals brought together the best men's and women's basketball teams from the Waratah League, South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL), Queensland Australian Basketball League (QABL), Central Australian Basketball Le ...

, with the men reaching the grand final, where they lost 94–80 to the

Geelong Supercats Geelong United is a NBL1 South club based in Geelong, Geelong, Victoria. Previously known as the Geelong Supercats, the club fields teams in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is affiliated with Geelong United Basketball and plays ...

. In 2007, the men's team won their second straight Big V championship after again winning 2–0 over the Sandringham Sabres in the grand final series. At the 2007 national finals, the Rangers again finished runners-up after losing 110–98 to the Cairns Marlins in the grand final. In 2008, the men's team lost in the Big V preliminary final.

Second SEABL stint

The Rangers returned to the SEABL in 2009. Between 2010 and 2012, the women's team won three straight SEABL championships, becoming the first SEABL women's team to win the championship three times in a row. The men meanwhile won back-to-back East Conference championships in 2012 and 2013. They lost in the 2012 SEABL grand final to the

Albury Wodonga Bandits Albury Wodonga Bandits is a NBL1 East club based in Albury, New South Wales. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 East. The club is a division of the overarching Border Basketball Club, the major administrative basketball or ...

and won the 2013 SEABL championship with a grand final victory over the Mount Gambier Pioneers. The women's team won back-to-back SEABL championships in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, the men's team won the South Conference championship and lost in the SEABL grand final to Mount Gambier.

NBL1

After the demise of the SEABL following the 2018 season, a new competition known as

NBL1 The NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball league in Australia run by the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of five conferences: NBL1 South, NBL1 North, NBL1 Central, NBL1 West and NBL1 East, with each consisting of bot ...

debuted in 2019 with the Rangers playing in the inaugural season. The

season did not go ahead in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

DBA's official website
{{NBL1 Big V teams South East Australian Basketball League teams Basketball teams in Melbourne Basketball teams established in 1981 1981 establishments in Australia Sport in the City of Greater Dandenong Dandenong Rangers