Couple Behind Cougars
Tagged in: In The News, NBL
Geoff Longley, The Press
Amy and Andrew Gardiner have plenty of basketball credibility behind them to launch the Christchurch Cougars franchise in the National Basketball League next season.
The duo are adamant, though, that this is not their basketball team, but the city’s. The bid for the Cougars to be in the league was accepted late last week when the Canterbury Rams surprisingly withdrew their entry.
“We certainly don’t see this as our team. A lot of people have expressed their interest and passion to be involved,” said Amy Gardiner yesterday.
“There are plenty of people who have wanted a say but haven’t been able to have that in the past which has caused some frustration. We will need all the support we can get.”
The Rams franchise was taken over from Canterbury Basketball Association (CBA) by John Watson in 2000 until he leased the management contract back to the CBA in 2007. The CBA could not fulfil the final year of its three-year contract in 2009 and the Rams participation was in doubt.
The Cougars have a tight timeframe to get a team started from scratch. There are less than three months to get organised with players, sponsors and a funding bill which could cost at least $200,000.
“It’s going to be a busy few weeks getting a team together and we will be working at getting players signed up this week,” Andrew Gardiner said.
Letters of intent from eight players expire at the end of the week while Tall Blacks Paul Henare and Paora Winitana have also expressed interest.
The Gardiners are steeped in basketball having met at San Jose State University in California when both were on sports scholarships in the late 1980s. Amy Gardiner, 33, was a power forward who had three years at the college before following Andrew, 38, back to New Zealand.
She played with North Harbour and also coached the North Harbour women’s team.
“I guess I was more career driven than sports and gave up playing pretty early,” she said.
Andrew Gardiner was a Tall Black from the 1990s and the last player cut from the Tall Black team which attended the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Amy Gardiner has been heavily involved on the administrative side of organising the bid and will step back while her husband moves forward to focus on the playing side as coach.
Andrew Gardiner has plenty of contacts, having played not only for North Harbour but also Saints and Canterbury, the last team he played for for several seasons from 2001.
He has also had a strong association with police basketball.
He was the club’s president, and has continued to play at club level until this year.
