Background The Illawarra Basketball Association was established in 1954 as a local basketball competition among seven teams who registered to play. Their first venue was the
Unanderra Hostel before moving to their current home in 1965,
Snakepit Stadium. In 1979, Basketball Illawarra entered into the newly formed
National Basketball League for its inaugural season that year. Since then, the NBL side has become largely independent of the Illawarra Basketball Association with separate ownership.
Representative Competitions Basketball Illawarra's senior men's and women's representative teams compete in the
NBL1 East, formerly known as the Waratah League. Playing as the 'Illawarra Hawks', they were
champions of the men's state premier division championship in 1998 and 1999 prior to the formation of the Waratah League. The Hawks men's side were champions of the inaugural Waratah League in 2001 and again in 2011. The women's side were
runners-up in the 2003 Waratah League season. The stadium opened in 1965 and is located in the Illawarra suburb of
Gwynneville, New South Wales. The stadium previously hosted home games for the professional
NBL side of the same name until their move to
WIN Entertainment Centre. The NBL side's front office is still based at the stadium and the team use it as a training facility. == References ==