The Australian Basketball Association (ABA) was a semi-professional basketball entity based in Australia. The ABA was Australia's biggest basketball competition for many years. With over 120 teams participating across five leagues and six states, the ABA competition was the vital link between grass roots basketball in Australia and the elite NBL and WNBL leagues. The association provided a high standard of competition for local basketballers from across the country as well as an intense environment for professionals to use in their off seasons. Between 1965 and 2008, the ABA played an integral part in the development of Australian basketball with hundreds of former and active NBL and WNBL players honing their skills against world-class opposition. Many NBL and WNBL clubs also benefited from their involvement in ABA competition, including the Melbourne Tigers who competed in the SEBL before joining the NBL. In its heyday, the ABA incorporated five leagues – SEABL (south and east conferences), QABL (north conference), CABL (central conference), Big V (Victorian conference), and Waratah League (New South Wales conference). With the support of Basketball Australia, the competition consistently built upon the successful structure created by the well-respected Continental Basketball Association. The end result was a culmination of over 30 years of evolution, during which time the ABA had mushroomed from eight teams in the south-east of Australia to a competition that involved 135 men's and women's teams based in six states and territories. The ABA was representative of the huge number of junior-based associations across the country and was the endorsed national development league of the sport's peak body, Basketball Australia. History The Australian Basketball Association's (ABA) roots can be traced back as far as 1965, when just eight clubs competed in the South Eastern Conference (SEC). The SEC continued until 1971 when the Australian Club Championships gained pre-eminence. In 1981, the SEC was reborn as the South Eastern Basketball League (SEBL) when the Australian Club Championships ceased to operate due to the rise of Australia's first truly national competition, the National Basketball League (NBL). The SEBL was divided into a South and East Conference format in 1986; the same year Queensland's State Basketball League was founded. In 1994, the bodies merged to create the long-standing North, South and East Conference concept of the National Continental Basketball Association. 1998 saw further expansion with the inclusion of a Central Conference from South Australia. In that same year, the