How'd You Go?
Dave Hughes
573 words
10 April 2000
The West Australian
TWAU
69
English
Copyright West Australian Newspapers Limited, all rights reserved.
THE Uni Loonies have the better name, but the Hawaiian Boys have an impromptu Melbourne chapter.
The two groups sit behind the baskets at either end of the court at Perth Wildcats home games and give considerable stick to opposing teams in general and one player in particular.
The Loonies, from Murdoch, win the award for the best sledge for their "Rillie is a tape worm" chant, directed at West Sydney's skinny, shaven-headed shooter during the elimination finals.
UWA's Hawaiian Boys take the sartorial honours, if only for catching the eye of Melbourne-based Wildcats fans during telecasts from the Entertainment Centre.
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How'd You Go?
Dave Hughes
574 words
1 February 2000
The West Australian58
English
Copyright West Australian Newspapers Limited, all rights reserved.
IT'S official. The bounce is back in basketball, especially in Perth.
The National Basketball League recently completed its mid-season audit of crowd numbers, something which in recent years has caused officials to shudder violently and reluctantly peep at the findings through their fingers.
This summer, however, the attendance figures were accompanied, not by groans, but by the popping of corks. The increase from last season was 15 per cent.
Admittedly, the gain was achieved in part by the near sell-out for the opening of the monster Olympic venue at Homebush in Sydney and the arrival in the league of Cairns.
And nowhere have crowds risen more than at the Perth Entertainment Centre. The Wildcats have been playing to a 22 per cent bigger audience since Andrew Vlahov and Luc Longley bought a controlling interest in the club and set about winning back the fans.
No Place Like Home For The Wildcats
Dave Hughes
485 words
15 January 2000
The West Australian
109
English
Copyright West Australian Newspapers Limited, all rights reserved.
...
When Andrew Vlahov and Luc Longley bought a controlling stake in the Wildcats last August, they determined that one of their key points to revitalise the moribund club was to emphasise a basic tenant of professional sport: win at home.
The considerable home-court advantage the Wildcats once enjoyed had all but evaporated. The frenzied, house-full atmosphere which helped the Wildcats to 12-1 records at home in 1991 and 1993 had faded to the indifference of a half-empty stadium and a barely tolerable 7-6 mark in Perth last season.
To rectify this, Longley suggested that ticket prices be cut to lure back the families and that free tickets be given to several hundred local students who, in essence, would be required to sing for their supper. Loudly.
Longley was seeking to recreate the crowd frenzy of US college basketball, hence the formation of the Uni Loonies from Murdoch, who sit behind one basket, and the Hawaiian Gang from UWA, who sit behind the other.
The Uni Loonies frequent the same website where they plan their game-night chants and activities.
They target a specific opposition player and harass him from the time he steps on the court to warm up to his final exit to the change room.
"It's got to be intimidating for opponents," said Vlahov.
"The students have been fantastic. They get everyone else going and the place is as noisy as it was when I first came into the league."
Only one NBL team has been unbeaten at home in the 1990s - the now defunct Magic, who went 12-0 in Melbourne in 1992.
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Our article about the Loonies here
