Background

The FDBA's origins can be traced back to 1959, when a group of students from the Frankston Teachers' College travelled to Albert Park for a tournament where they met other players from Frankston. Through these contacts made, a few games were organised to cater for the need in the Frankston area. The earliest games were played at the Balcombe Army Barracks. The Army and Navy had teams involved, but no formal competition existed. It is thought that the first President of the FDBA was an NCO from the Army who happened to be on an inservice at the time.^[1]

In 1960, the College built a gymnasium. Teams from the YMCA and Seaford joined in and most of the administration was done by the teams on a rotational basis, such as collecting fees and marking lines. The President of the College, George Jenkins, was happy for the students to be involved in such activity as long as there was a formal structure, and financial accountability was in place. A staff team joined in the early 1960s and helped in negotiations with other groups, who were constantly in competition for use of the Gymnasium on the Campus. This staff team remained a vital part of the competition until the early 1970s.^[1]

In the early 1970s, the Police and Citizens Club built the existing facility at the Towerhill Road site. This, along with Ballam Park Technical School, was the site of the FDBA until one of many approaches over the years to Frankston City Council was successful, and the two-court stadium at Bardia Avenue was built and opened on 9 March 1979.^[1]

Early years of the Bears

At the time that ground was broken for the stadium, moves were also made to bring a senior representative team to Frankston. Jason Placas negotiated to bring Tony Gaze from Dandenong, along with the nucleus of his team. Four of these players were Frankston junior players. The team competed in the VBA Championships in 1979 and 1980, and joined the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in 1981. The 1981 season saw the Frankston Bears finish second on the SEABL ladder^[2] before going on to reach the ABA National grand final, where they lost to the Geelong Cats.^[3] After winning the SEABL championship and ABA National championship in 1982, the Bears joined the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1983 and competed at that level for two years, before financial pressures became too much for the Association to handle.^[1]

Championship success

In 1986, Frankston joined forces with neighbouring Chelsea Association to form the Bayside Blues Basketball Club. This Club represented both Associations from 1986 to 1995, when Chelsea opted out because of financial commitments.^[1] During this time, a Bayside Blues team joined the inaugural SEABL women's season in 1990.^[2]

In 1991, the Bayside women finished second on the SEABL ladder^[2] and reached the ABA National grand final, where they lost to the Dandenong Rangers.^[3] In 1992, Bayside finished third on the SEABL ladder^[2] and reached ABA National grand final, where they lost to the Knox Raiders.^[3] In 1993, the Frankston Blues women finished first on the SEABL ladder^[2] to win their maiden SEABL championship.^[4][5] They went on to defeat the Broadmeadows Broncos in the ABA National grand final to win their first National championship.^[3] In 1994, they finished second on the SEABL ladder^[2] and reached their fourth straight ABA National grand final, where they lost to the Knox Raiders.^[3] In 1997, they finished first on the SEABL ladder^[2] and won their second SEABL championship.^[4][5] They went on to defeat the Townsville Sunbirds in the ABA National grand final to win their second National championship.^[3]

The men on the other hand were conference champions as Bayside in both 1992 and 1993 before they too changed their name to Frankston and won another conference championship in 1995.^[6] They also won conference championships in 1998 and 2000,^[6] and were National Runners-up in 1995 and 1998.^[3][7] The women's team went on to win the SEABL championship in 2004,^[5] while the men's team won the South Conference title in 2009.^[8]

In 2019, following the demise of the SEABL, the Blues joined the NBL1 South.^[9] In 2022 at the NBL1 National Finals, the Blues men lost 85–74 in the championship game to the Rockingham Flames.^[10]