The Western Australian Basketball Federation (WABF) was founded in 1946 as the Western Australian Basketball Association (WABA). The WABA was formed by a small group of basketball enthusiasts at the Perth YMCA on Murray Street on Wednesday, 3 April 1946. The sport had already been played across the state for 35 years, but there had been no official management or promotion of the sport.
John Leonard, a highly respected Perth businessman, athlete and two-time winner of football's coveted
Sandover Medal, played a key role in orchestrating the first meeting. The resulting winter competition played at
Claremont Showground saw men's teams compete for the John Leonard Perpetual Shield. In 1957, the Women's Amateur Basketball Association of Western Australia was formed. A census in 1987 showed that 61 percent of WABF members were from country areas, so it was decided to try to include several country teams in the state's premier basketball league. However, this could not be done until the WABF had traded out its difficulties. Fortunately, the Wildcats had a hugely successful season in 1987—reaching the NBL Grand Final in their first trip to the finals—attracting much television coverage, which saw basketball's popularity soar. An immediate result of the sport's new popularity was the debut of
McDonald's as a sponsor. The fast-food chain entered into a $150,000 three-year deal with the WABF, sponsoring the premier competition and funding an extensive junior programme. In 1988, it was decided to form a
State Basketball League (SBL) for both men and women, and to develop it into an elite, statewide competition as soon as possible. This meant seeking out private owners and attracting corporate sponsorship, so as to not burden the association. As part of basketball's development, the
Western Australian Institute of Sport men's team, the
WAIS Warriors, were included in the SBL under Warren Kuhn. Simon Leunig, who had been the WABF's development officer, was appointed general manager of the SBL, and set about organising an expanded league for 1989. His marketing strategy paid off, and three new franchises were established in country areas: the
Rainbow Coast Raiders from
Albany were the first, followed by the
Batavia Buccaneers from
Geraldton and the
Souwest Slammers from
Bunbury. The expanded SBL, which was limited to men's teams in 1989, was sponsored by McDonald's and
Skywest, with a $65,000 grant from the
State Government to help with travel costs. ==Operations==