’Neers slam dunk a tough call
EACH weekend The Chronicle sport team looks at pressing issues on the Saturday Soapbox.
Q: With the Mountaineers holding a community meeting on Tuesday to discuss their future in the QBL, do you think the club should play on in the state league?
Anton Rose: THIS is not just a case of taking a year away to find your feet again.
The Mountaineers will have to think long and hard about the wider ramifications of a decision to drop out of the QBL.
A vast majority of the city’s best basketball talents will not want to play in the second tier of state basketball and will likely go down to Brisbane and Ipswich to seek opportunities – and it will be hard to lure them back.
That is assuming they will just waltz back into the QBL in 2019, after a year out in the basketball wilderness.
You only have to look at the Western Mustangs (formerly Toowoomba Clydesdales), who after more than a decade are still waiting for the state league door to open for them again.
It certainly is not easy to get back in once you leave, and the Toowoomba Mountaineers’ rich 50-year history of competing at the top level and hard work is at risk of being undone.
Regardless of the reasons why the club has been recommended to drop out of the QBL, whether it be finances or the club’s ability to compete in the QBL, sound logic needs to prevail over what will be an emotional discourse at the planning meeting on Tuesday night.
Glen McCullough: IAM thankful not to be involved in having to make such a decision.
There is a clear case on both sides of the fence on whether the Mountaineers should pause and re-group or dig in and fight until the last person is left standing.
Mountaineers stalwart and board member John Gouldson has already indicated that person will be him.
While I don’t have the knowledge or involvement to vote on such a matter, I’m sure there will be both logical and passionate support either way, particularly I suspect on the side of looking to remain in the QBL.
My gut feeling and past experiences tell me if the Mountaineers do pull the pin, that could be it for a Toowoomba-based team as we know it.
It would be long way back from the wilderness and that’s where they will find themselves after 50 years of toiling.
The strong will get stronger, opening the gap further on the “haves” and the “have nots”.
Let’s hope this backs-to-the-wall situation can somehow provide a positive outcome for the Mountaineers.
Ben Drewe: WITH the Mountaineers at a cross-road, I think the attendance and passion on show at Tuesday’s meeting will make the decision clear.
If the Toowoomba basketball community rallies and shows how much having the Mountaineers in the QBL means to the sport in the city, then this situation could be the call-to-arms the club needs to see a positive future.
Macca mentions Mr Mountaineer John Gouldson is ready to do what is needed to keep the club going, but he will need plenty of support.
Hopefully Tuesday’s meeting is a vibrant, positive forum for basketball lovers to put their ideas and hand up to help the Mountaineers fight on in the QBL.
It will certainly be a sad day for basketball, and spot in general in Toowoomba, if the response at Tuesday’s meeting is lacklustre and leads to the withdrawal of the Mountaineers from the QBL.