Basketball 'old boys' ready to suit up in Nelson

Basketball in the top of the south has a new trophy and a new event in 2025.

A collaboration between the Marlborough Boys’ College Old Boys Club [MBCOB] and Nelson’s Athletic Basketball Club [ABC] has given life to a weekend tournament, with the “Old Boys Cup” at stake.

Matt Pigou, from MBCOB, and Scott Bradley, from ABC, became acquainted in 2023 when ABC brought a team to Blenheim to play the curtain-raiser to a Giants pre-season match and, at the end of 2024, discussed the possibility of a tournament featuring a group of old boys from various colleges.

The concept has been fleshed out and on February 1-2 eight teams will front up for a series of matches at Jack Robins Basketball Stadium in Nelson.

MBCOB will field two sides who will tackle teams, mainly from the ABC club, dubbed Tasman Old Boys, Nelson College Old Boys, Nayland Old Boys, South Island Old Boys, North Island Old Boys and World Old Boys, depending on where they were educated.

Inclusivity is the order of the day, along with the desire to provide more basketball for post-college players.

“This is just a starting point but we are keen to make this an annual thing,” said Matt.

“Scott’s club is quite big, they have over 100 members, and we decided between us to come up with the concept of an Old Boys tournament.

“The idea started with a lot of our guys just wanting more basketball … after you leave school your opportunities [to play] diminish, so this will give them some extra games and become a great lead-in to the club season on both sides of the hill.

“It has been a big drawcard already … some former MBC players who have stayed in the province for apprenticeships or whatever have already shown interest and are keen to stay in the game.

“Who knows where it can go from here, maybe it will evolve into something more, perhaps involving old boys from other regions as well,” Matt added.

The tournament will involve two pools of four, with the winners playing off for the newly-minted cup on Sunday.

The MBCOB club was formed in 2022 and has been a success, fielding two teams in senior grade last season, plus one in in B grade. The players have been practising for the past few months for their pre-season hit-out, keen to make Marlborough the first resting place of the “Old Boys Cup”.

“Provincial pride will be at stake when we step on court,” said Matt, “especially with it being all old boys’ teams”.

“However, we are a bit older now so we will be well aware that we have to take it easy and have some first aid kits at hand, maybe a physio too. It will be a bit of fun but there will also be a trophy to play for, so I expect us to be pretty competitive,” he added.

Marlborough teams:

MBC Old Boys Blue: Matt Pigou, Tarin Mason, Vitale Toia, Ryan Lock, Toby Baker, Ben McLennan, Leon Wightwick.

MBC Old Boys White: Jake Southey-Taylor, Jake Patterson, Ben Payne, Campbell Whalley, Tyrone Houia, Arama Hita, Rangi Rogers, Morgan James Purdy.