and yes, we booed Gaze.

This is tough. Grew up a Magic fan playing at Kilsyth snd the Tigers were the enemy. Many years later with no SE Melbourne team around and United entering the scene that was the logical decision and have stuck with it.

Hopefully they do it wearing Magic jerseys again.

I think United aren't wearing any Tigers, Magic jerseys. I’ll be wearing my Tigers jersey for this match, can’t wait!

Were the 1992 Magic honoured by either Melbourne franchise last season? If so were the 1988 and 1989 double winning Giants also recognised a few seasons ago?

If not the rabble continues.

Nope.

United is the continuation of the Tigers. It was a re-branding.

That was always the case.

It's just that they tried to broaden their appeal in the initial few years when there wasn't another Melbourne club

And in hindsight, it's a shame the Phoenix couldn't have entered a few years earlier because there wouldn't have been any justification for a re-brand, and we'd still have the Tigers

United pretending they're the Tigers when its convenient again.

I went to the 30 year anniversary party earlier in the year. Much better than whatever this is.

The premise coming direct from LK and Slepoy was that with the Tigers being the sole Melbourne team it wasn't commercial to have kids paying against the Tigers during the week and then cheering for them on weekends.

Ive never warmed to the United name but it is an evolution of the Tigers franchise.

That was the public justification, but I believe the real reasoning was finance-related.

There was some logic to it. I myself played junior rep basketball for a decade and I can confirm the Tigers juniors had a bad name because of their poaching.

So it made some sense. But with two caveats:

First as mentioned earlier, with Phoenix' arrival the rebranding became redundant.

Two, the Tigers had started growing rapidly even before the rebrand as LK injected cash and his nous into the league.

How much the rebrand helped (how much growth could've been achieved anyway without it) will forever remain in the realm of conjecture.

I always thought they needed a rebrand was needed, just didn't like united as a name. It has worked out well though

"If so were the 1988 and 1989 double winning Giants also recognised a few seasons ago?"

Just to correct a very minor thing which isn't really relevant, but the Giants only won in 1989. Canberra took out 1988.

"How much the rebrand helped (how much growth could've been achieved anyway without it) will forever remain in the realm of conjecture."

In terms of fan engagement we will never know whether it was an overall positive or not, but I understand financially it allowed them to leave quite a bit in the past.

Could be wrong, but that was the word at the time.

That's an interesting thought, but I don't remember any discussion about that whatsoever

The eerie silence that engulfed the PEC when Gaze iced the game at the foul line still haunts me to this day

I was also at the 30 year anniversary party. It was a great night meeting all the legend's. All really nice blokes, down to earth. The legends box isn't far from where I sit, always see them smiling.

In terms of fan engagement we will never know whether it was an overall positive or not, but I understand financially it allowed them to leave quite a bit in the past.

That's an interesting thought, but I don't remember any discussion about that whatsoever