Both the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Rush have been part of the South East Australian Basketball League, which is set to be disbanded in favour of state-based competitions that culminate in a national play-off series.

Peter Eddy’s statement to media

At the SEABL end of season meeting last Saturday the BA CEO addressed the meeting and advised that Basketball Australia does not see running competitions as part of its future role and its preference is for the SEABL teams to play in state based competitions with a National Conference type event to be played at the end of season between all states winners for a true national champion.

The BA Board is willing to run SEABL as is for 2019 or clubs could elect to move to state based models from 2019

There is a proposal under development by Basketball Victoria to establish a new league above, and managed separate to, Big V and open to all current Victorian SEABL teams plus possibly Albury / Wodonga and the Tasmanian teams. The top level teams in Big V would also be eligible to enter.

The creation of a new league may lead to new player qualifications with a stronger focus on local player development and pathways while still retaining import positions.

A decision in regard to SEABL / BV level competitions will be made by the BA Board on Oct 7th.

Victorian Clubs will meet with BV in the coming weeks to discuss this matter further and to develop a plan around this.

The critical matter for us will be to still promote our program with the national competition pathway and aspire to win through to the National Conference Championship from when this model comes into effect..  

The standard of competition will remain the same whichever direction the 2019 season takes.​