February 4, 2025 • 10 mins
The trans-Tasman rivalry has been renewed on the basketball hardwood.
The Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns will take on the Australian Boomers and Opals respectively in a three-game series in May, in what's being billed as the Trans-Tasman Throwdown.
The double-headers will be played in Adelaide, the Sunshine Coast and Hamilton.
It will be the first time in close to ten years that the New Zealand men have hosted the Boomers, while the women haven't played on home soil in five years.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Delan Boucher joins US now former Tour Black, former legendary breaker,
now the New Zealand basketball CEO to all black still fans.
A series against Australia. This is new ground being broken
for Trans Tasman basketball relations. This is super good for
the sport. Probably slightly over Jill as well. Let's talk
(00:36):
about now, Dylan Boucher, evening.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Mate, Darcy, long time mate. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm very very good. I'm quite enamored with the news
that you've decided to do something fresh and you're in
a Trans Tansan basketball state. Of course, I'm talking about
the Trans Tasman throwdown. Probably your brain child. I'll you
explain what it is, Dylan, What is it?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, it's a Trans Tasman series against Australia. It's been
probably over two years in the making. We certainly when
we had the initial chats with Australia, they were certainly
very keen and it's taken a little while to pull
it together and trying and to find the right time
of the year to be able to run it, to
have players available and so forth, But certainly pumped and
(01:20):
excited to get this across the line and have it
go live, and excited to be able to have our
two degrees Tall Fans and Tall Blacks playing on home
soil against Australia.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's the beauty of it. It's a double headed series,
so you've got both genders playing the game, so it's
the Opals and the Boomers, the Tall Blacks and the
Tall Ferns.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Super important to have that coverage, massively important. You know,
We've obviously got a clear strategy to be able to
grow our brands in New Zealand and we want to
make sure our two degrees Tall Ferns and toll Blacks
are growing equally and being able to play the Boomers
in the Opals on home soil, you know, our cross
Tasman rivals. What better way to do it than playing
(02:05):
some games in both countries and really create that rivalry. Again,
I was.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Quite surprised at some of the stats that came out
of this, Dylan. The Ferns haven't played in front of
their home fans for five years. The tour Blacks haven't
hosted the Boomers at home in nearly ten years. It's
a gulf. Why did that happen?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, it's crazy, And then my memory doesn't serve me
too well. It didn't feel like that long ago, but
it certainly has been when you go back and look
at the archives, and you know, the reality is the
tour Blecks themselves, they play in a lot of the
Asia Cup, Palm and World Cup qualifying games, but we
don't cross over with Australia very often, if at all.
So that's why those fever tournaments have almost taken over
(02:47):
the what we used to do and play qualifying games
against Australia. So that's why we haven't. That's why there's
been the ten year hiatus and the Tour Blacks and
the Tall Ferns. Again, their system through fever is quite
different and a lot of the tournaments that they play
are outside of New Zealand. And you know, what we
want to do is be able to create an environment
where we can create home games here so that we
(03:07):
can create again that hero piece for those young female
athletes that want to have people to aspire to. What
better than having them playing on your home soil, and
especially you know, they've had the luxury of having the
you know, the GJ GOA and to Towehi playing and
now to have this it's just this high level basketball
being played on home soil.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How long's it slocked in for this doubleheaded series?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
All the planets to make it an annual thing. We're
doing the first years as kind of like a test
run to see how it goes for both ends, and
you know, for both you know ourselves in Australia and
we want it to be an annual thing. So again,
it's just finding space in the calendar around all the
busyness of basketball to be able to make this an
annual series.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
That's a hugely difficult concept, i'd suggest as finding those wholes.
So I'm presuming that the Australians are also committed to
doing that, therefore having their best athletes involved. Because of
its B teams, people aren't going to be as interested.
So can you confirm it's going to be the best players,
providing they're not injured? You got any back up on that?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, for sure. I mean for us, it'll be again
the best players available at the time, depending on where
they are in the world and what leagues are going on.
But certainly chose that window because it's the best possible window.
We've actually ended up scheduling a break in our sales
NBL season to have these games to ensure that there's
players that aren't going to be missing from their teams.
(04:30):
So we're trying to coordinate it. Again. That's where I
talk about the trial and era. We'll see with the
time of the years suitable to see what players will
be available to play in it. But we're hoping they
have a very strong team on both sides. I guess
the luxury in Australia is they have a very huge
depth in their basketball program right now, both men's and women,
so they'll have that luxury of being able to have
(04:53):
very very strong teams no matter you know, their top
thirty players that were to roll out on the floor.
So it's going to be a really competitive game no
matter no matter what looks what it looks like, and
for us, there'll be a lot of opportunities again for
you'll probably we see some new faces and you'll probably
see some old faces all mixed in together, and it'll
be great. The great opportunity for everyone's put their best
foot forward for future Asia Cup qualifiers or World Cup
(05:17):
qualifiers or World Cups and Asia Cups as well.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So across that space though it means nothing from a
fever point of view. It's just a trans Tasman series. Plainly,
you want the best athletes, you want them in good form,
but the results won't affect or alter anything on a
on a global scale.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
No that we know competition points as far as feeder goes.
But we'll be having it'll be some form of trophy
or shield that will be we'll be up for grabs
and you know, we want to make sure again that pride,
like like it is in rugby with the Bletter's Low Cup,
there is some pride of holding that silverware or that
piece of wood. So we'll be that's the That's the
next phases is looking through what actually is the prize
(05:57):
and has it all structured. So we're excited again to
have something up for grabs that we can either keep
in our trophy cabinet or they can keep in theirs.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You must have floated it with the athletes. Have you
got general buyn across the board.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, I mean the athletes love it, especially our female
athletes to be able to play in front of you
home fans and have an opportunity to play on home
soil and have their fano watching as well as the
male players, you know, having again playing against Australia. There
are old rivals from a long time ago, and we
probably haven't the rivalry probably hasn't been sparked as much
(06:34):
as what it used to be back in back in
my day playing but day, you know, old Dylan, I
feel that old when I look at these young players now.
But yeah, you know what I mean that we played
them on regular basis. We at least played them every
year and several times, and so that rivalry was really created.
And you know that, you know, as much as your
(06:56):
mates off the court, on the court was fire. And
I think we're going to see the same and the series,
we're going to see a real rivalry starting to be created.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
What's in it for you a wider scale and what's
in it for Australian basketball? What do they see as
being the main driver? Obviously playing against the Kii vice versa.
That's lovely, but what else do you think you stand
to gain out of this? On both sides the.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Tasman Yeah, both countries are really booming. Basketball is really
booming in both countries and just again creating that opportunity
for fans to be able to get a piece of
their national national programs and see their best players on
court and playing, and you know, creating more opportunities for
fans again for those role modeling for the heroes, you know,
for us, For us essentially, it's it's been able to
(07:42):
have our brand in front of our fans. You know,
we just don't see our top players playing here enough.
In the black jersey and again I stress the you know,
the the two degrees tall fans haven't played on homesore
for five years, so you're mistaken for people not even
knowing who these players are. So they're going to see
some you know, some top female athletes out there and
(08:05):
show what they're made of the same. We've got the
luxury of seeing more of the toll Blecks because of
the fever schedule and playing home games, but we're going
to see again playing against Australia. We don't get to
see Australia very often and show the talent and that
depth that's on display both in the Tall Blacks uniform
but also in the Boomers uniform.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How did you come to the decision around where these
games are going to be played? Because well a couple
over in Australia, caup all over here just when where
you think the crowd's the biggest. Are people going to
start bedding for these events? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah? I think it's going to create opportunities again because
they're not they're not fever games and the games where
we can control where they are played. We were excited
to be going to Hamilton because Hamilton's been staffed of
top level basketball. They don't have either a TOEH or
an NBL franchise of the Year. They've got a really strong,
young talented REP program in that region. We want to
(09:01):
be able to bring some top level basketball to the
to the Wycantaw region, to Hamilton, So we're excited about
taking the game there and in Australia again, being able
to take the game both to love basketball, but in
Sunchoine Coast there's not high level basketball played there aside
from NBO one, they don't have any NBA or WNBL teams.
(09:23):
So being able to go there and then Adelaide is
obviously as a bit of a mecha for basketball. So
to be able to play in front of a I
think it's about an eight thousand seater stadium will be
a great, great opportunity for our athletes as well.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Be lovely to see more of these events with different
sports right up and down, but we don't have enough
of it. Wouldn't it be lovely if this excuse the
pun tipped off more trans Tasman events in numerous sports.
I think the populace would love it, wouldn't they?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Oh that's I mean, I can remember some of my
fondest memories are you know, watching some of those rivalry games,
you know, whether it be rugby, whether it be rugby league,
or playing in them in basketball. You know, those are
some of the memories that you'll live with forever. Moments
you know of those. And again we seem to somehow
our New Zealand teams seem to be able to raise
(10:13):
to the level to be able to every time they
play Australia and really pull some really big, good performances
out and we're expecting nothing less than this series.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Delan Boucher joins US now former Tour Black, former legendary breaker,
now the New Zealand basketball CEO to all black still fans.
A series against Australia. This is new ground being broken
for Trans Tasman basketball relations. This is super good for
the sport. Probably slightly over Jill as well. Let's talk
(00:36):
about now, Dylan Boucher, evening.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Mate, Darcy, long time mate. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm very very good. I'm quite enamored with the news
that you've decided to do something fresh and you're in
a Trans Tansan basketball state. Of course, I'm talking about
the Trans Tasman throwdown. Probably your brain child. I'll you
explain what it is, Dylan, What is it?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, it's a Trans Tasman series against Australia. It's been
probably over two years in the making. We certainly when
we had the initial chats with Australia, they were certainly
very keen and it's taken a little while to pull
it together and trying and to find the right time
of the year to be able to run it, to
have players available and so forth, But certainly pumped and
(01:20):
excited to get this across the line and have it
go live, and excited to be able to have our
two degrees Tall Fans and Tall Blacks playing on home
soil against Australia.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's the beauty of it. It's a double headed series,
so you've got both genders playing the game, so it's
the Opals and the Boomers, the Tall Blacks and the
Tall Ferns.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Super important to have that coverage, massively important. You know,
We've obviously got a clear strategy to be able to
grow our brands in New Zealand and we want to
make sure our two degrees Tall Ferns and toll Blacks
are growing equally and being able to play the Boomers
in the Opals on home soil, you know, our cross
Tasman rivals. What better way to do it than playing
(02:05):
some games in both countries and really create that rivalry. Again,
I was.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Quite surprised at some of the stats that came out
of this, Dylan. The Ferns haven't played in front of
their home fans for five years. The tour Blacks haven't
hosted the Boomers at home in nearly ten years. It's
a gulf. Why did that happen?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, it's crazy, And then my memory doesn't serve me
too well. It didn't feel like that long ago, but
it certainly has been when you go back and look
at the archives, and you know, the reality is the
tour Blecks themselves, they play in a lot of the
Asia Cup, Palm and World Cup qualifying games, but we
don't cross over with Australia very often, if at all.
So that's why those fever tournaments have almost taken over
(02:47):
the what we used to do and play qualifying games
against Australia. So that's why we haven't. That's why there's
been the ten year hiatus and the Tour Blacks and
the Tall Ferns. Again, their system through fever is quite
different and a lot of the tournaments that they play
are outside of New Zealand. And you know, what we
want to do is be able to create an environment
where we can create home games here so that we
(03:07):
can create again that hero piece for those young female
athletes that want to have people to aspire to. What
better than having them playing on your home soil, and
especially you know, they've had the luxury of having the
you know, the GJ GOA and to Towehi playing and
now to have this it's just this high level basketball
being played on home soil.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How long's it slocked in for this doubleheaded series?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
All the planets to make it an annual thing. We're
doing the first years as kind of like a test
run to see how it goes for both ends, and
you know, for both you know ourselves in Australia and
we want it to be an annual thing. So again,
it's just finding space in the calendar around all the
busyness of basketball to be able to make this an
annual series.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
That's a hugely difficult concept, i'd suggest as finding those wholes.
So I'm presuming that the Australians are also committed to
doing that, therefore having their best athletes involved. Because of
its B teams, people aren't going to be as interested.
So can you confirm it's going to be the best players,
providing they're not injured? You got any back up on that?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah, for sure. I mean for us, it'll be again
the best players available at the time, depending on where
they are in the world and what leagues are going on.
But certainly chose that window because it's the best possible window.
We've actually ended up scheduling a break in our sales
NBL season to have these games to ensure that there's
players that aren't going to be missing from their teams.
(04:30):
So we're trying to coordinate it. Again. That's where I
talk about the trial and era. We'll see with the
time of the years suitable to see what players will
be available to play in it. But we're hoping they
have a very strong team on both sides. I guess
the luxury in Australia is they have a very huge
depth in their basketball program right now, both men's and women,
so they'll have that luxury of being able to have
(04:53):
very very strong teams no matter you know, their top
thirty players that were to roll out on the floor.
So it's going to be a really competitive game no
matter no matter what looks what it looks like, and
for us, there'll be a lot of opportunities again for
you'll probably we see some new faces and you'll probably
see some old faces all mixed in together, and it'll
be great. The great opportunity for everyone's put their best
foot forward for future Asia Cup qualifiers or World Cup
(05:17):
qualifiers or World Cups and Asia Cups as well.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So across that space though it means nothing from a
fever point of view. It's just a trans Tasman series. Plainly,
you want the best athletes, you want them in good form,
but the results won't affect or alter anything on a
on a global scale.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
No that we know competition points as far as feeder goes.
But we'll be having it'll be some form of trophy
or shield that will be we'll be up for grabs
and you know, we want to make sure again that pride,
like like it is in rugby with the Bletter's Low Cup,
there is some pride of holding that silverware or that
piece of wood. So we'll be that's the That's the
next phases is looking through what actually is the prize
(05:57):
and has it all structured. So we're excited again to
have something up for grabs that we can either keep
in our trophy cabinet or they can keep in theirs.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
You must have floated it with the athletes. Have you
got general buyn across the board.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, I mean the athletes love it, especially our female
athletes to be able to play in front of you
home fans and have an opportunity to play on home
soil and have their fano watching as well as the
male players, you know, having again playing against Australia. There
are old rivals from a long time ago, and we
probably haven't the rivalry probably hasn't been sparked as much
(06:34):
as what it used to be back in back in
my day playing but day, you know, old Dylan, I
feel that old when I look at these young players now.
But yeah, you know what I mean that we played
them on regular basis. We at least played them every
year and several times, and so that rivalry was really created.
And you know that, you know, as much as your
(06:56):
mates off the court, on the court was fire. And
I think we're going to see the same and the series,
we're going to see a real rivalry starting to be created.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
What's in it for you a wider scale and what's
in it for Australian basketball? What do they see as
being the main driver? Obviously playing against the Kii vice versa.
That's lovely, but what else do you think you stand
to gain out of this? On both sides the.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Tasman Yeah, both countries are really booming. Basketball is really
booming in both countries and just again creating that opportunity
for fans to be able to get a piece of
their national national programs and see their best players on
court and playing, and you know, creating more opportunities for
fans again for those role modeling for the heroes, you know,
for us, For us essentially, it's it's been able to
(07:42):
have our brand in front of our fans. You know,
we just don't see our top players playing here enough.
In the black jersey and again I stress the you know,
the the two degrees tall fans haven't played on homesore
for five years, so you're mistaken for people not even
knowing who these players are. So they're going to see
some you know, some top female athletes out there and
(08:05):
show what they're made of the same. We've got the
luxury of seeing more of the toll Blecks because of
the fever schedule and playing home games, but we're going
to see again playing against Australia. We don't get to
see Australia very often and show the talent and that
depth that's on display both in the Tall Blacks uniform
but also in the Boomers uniform.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How did you come to the decision around where these
games are going to be played? Because well a couple
over in Australia, caup all over here just when where
you think the crowd's the biggest. Are people going to
start bedding for these events? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah? I think it's going to create opportunities again because
they're not they're not fever games and the games where
we can control where they are played. We were excited
to be going to Hamilton because Hamilton's been staffed of
top level basketball. They don't have either a TOEH or
an NBL franchise of the Year. They've got a really strong,
young talented REP program in that region. We want to
(09:01):
be able to bring some top level basketball to the
to the Wycantaw region, to Hamilton, So we're excited about
taking the game there and in Australia again, being able
to take the game both to love basketball, but in
Sunchoine Coast there's not high level basketball played there aside
from NBO one, they don't have any NBA or WNBL teams.
(09:23):
So being able to go there and then Adelaide is
obviously as a bit of a mecha for basketball. So
to be able to play in front of a I
think it's about an eight thousand seater stadium will be
a great, great opportunity for our athletes as well.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Be lovely to see more of these events with different
sports right up and down, but we don't have enough
of it. Wouldn't it be lovely if this excuse the
pun tipped off more trans Tasman events in numerous sports.
I think the populace would love it, wouldn't they?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Oh that's I mean, I can remember some of my
fondest memories are you know, watching some of those rivalry games,
you know, whether it be rugby, whether it be rugby league,
or playing in them in basketball. You know, those are
some of the memories that you'll live with forever. Moments
you know of those. And again we seem to somehow
our New Zealand teams seem to be able to raise
(10:13):
to the level to be able to every time they
play Australia and really pull some really big, good performances
out and we're expecting nothing less than this series.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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