Winter 2024 Season Information

Please read the following information before you enter your team into the winter 2024 season.

For enquiries about your club team, please contact your club directly.

For enquiries about a social team or competition please contact GUB directly.

Register your team today

Enter your social team online or join a community club.

JOINING A CLUB TEAM

Clubs can participate in our club competitions and can request permission to play in some of our social and school competitions.

To join a club team you will need to speak to a club directly. Please see our webpage with contact details for each club.

 

ENTERING A SOCIAL TEAM

Anyone can enter in a social team into one of our social competitions. Individuals cannot enter alone into the social competition but must enter with another 5 or more players, to play with them.

To enter your team into the Winter 24 season please click below.

 

ENTER YOUR SOCIAL TEAM HERE

What competitions are on offer in the Winter 2024 Season?

What competitions are on offer? Key season dates for Winter 2024.

Women Men Girls Boys Mixed
Monday Women’s
Club
Monday Men’s
Club
**Under 8 Saturday
Club
**Under 8 Saturday
Club
Prep – Grade 2
Thursday
Social School League
Tuesday Women’s Social Tuesday Men’s Club Under 10
Saturday
Club
Under 10
Saturday
Club
Grade 3 & 4 Thursday
Social School League
Tuesday Women’s
Club
Tuesday
Men’s
Social
Under 12 Thursday
Club
Under 12 Saturday
Club
Grade 5 & 6 Thursday Social School League
Wednesday Men’s
Social
Under 14 Tuesday
Club
Under 12 Monday
Club
**Year 7 & 8 Thursday
Social School League
Thursday
Men’s
Club
Under 16
Tuesday
Club
Under 14
Monday
Club
Senior Mixed Sunday
Social
Thursday Men’s
Social
**Year 9-11
Friday
Social School League
Under 16
Wednesday
Club
Under 18
Wednesday
Club
Under 19
Tuesday
Club
**Year 9-11
Friday
Social School League
**Under 23
Friday
Social
Under 20
Thursday
Club
**Under 23
Thursday
Club
Under 23
Friday
Social

 

** Developing Competitions

All competitions are subject to team numbers to proceed. If you enter a team into a developing competition, you will be contacted if the season won’t be going ahead after the Round 1 cut-off date.

 

Key dates for the Winter 24 season

VIEW THE WINTER 24 CALANDER HERE

 

Tuesday, April 9 – Team Entries close (11:59 pm)

Friday, April 11 – Fixtures are released

Saturday, April 13 – Player Registrations due

Sunday, April 14 – First Games of Winter 2024 to be played.

Thursday, April 25 –  Anzac Day – No Games played

Saturday, May 25 – Grading and Relegation games completed

Saturday, June 8 – Monday, June 10 – Monarchs Birthday Weekend – No Games

Saturday, June 29 – School Holiday break begins – No Junior Games, Seniors will continue to play

Monday, July 15 – School Holiday break ends – All Junior games recommence

Saturday, September 7 – Round 1 of Finals Commence

Saturday, September 14 – Round 2 of Finals Commence

Friday, September 20th – The last games of Winter 2024 are played

What fees are involved with the community competition?

Learn about team registration, player registration, game tickets and other fees.

TEAM REGISTRATIONS

What is team registration?

Team registration is the process (and Payment) of registering your team for the Winter 2024 season. The Team registration/entry fee helps to cover some of the fixed costs (admin, loans etc) that are used throughout the season. You will be asked to pay the registration fee when you enter your team online through PlayHQ.

 

How much does Team Registration cost?

Currently, team registration is $85.00 for teams. Teams that enter in late, past the round 1 cut-off date, will incur an additional $20 late fee for the extra administration needed to re-fixture the draws.

 

When does my team need to pay Team Registration?

Team registration is due upon the entry of your team. You will need to have paid your registration in full to be considered entered into the competition. If you need to discuss payment for team entry differently (i.e. invoiced) as opposed to online through PlayHQ, please contact us for assistance.

 

PLAYER REGISTRATIONS

What is player registration?

Player registration is a payment that players need to make each season. This payment includes on-court insurance and membership to GUB, Basketball Victoria and your club.

How much does a player registration cost?

Player registrations will vary in price from season to season. Some are annual, and others are due every 6 (six) months (each season). Your player registration is made up of 3-4 payments.

Basketball Victoria Participation Licence Fee – $25 – $45.00 – due annually

GUB Membership – $67.15 – due seasonally

Club Membership – Varies Across Club – please speak to your club for more information

Basketball Australia Game Development Levy – $5.50 – due annually

 

How do I know if I need to pay my registration?

If you are not sure if you are up to date or would like to check, please contact us. As a general rule of thumb, if you haven’t registered this season, then you aren’t up to date. Registration will cost different amounts from season to season, as different payments are due at different frequencies (please see above)

 

When is a player registration due?

Player registrations need to be paid before you play your first game.

Unregistered players will cause their team to lose any ladder points that are gained during those games.  There is no longer a grace period for late registrations.

 

How do I register?

To register a player to your team, you will need to obtain a unique team code.

If you’re registering to a social team, your unique code will come from your team contact (the person who entered the team). If they are unable to find it, you can find a list of them on our website or contact us for assistance.

If you registering for a club team, then you will need to contact your club directly to get the process on how to register.

 

I’m playing for multiple teams; do I need to pay again?

You only need to pay for your player registration once per season. If you plan on playing for multiple teams this season, please contact us or your club for assistance on how to do this. In some instances you may need to go through the registration process again (without paying again), in others, we can allocate you across to your second team/s.

 

Are there penalties for playing whilst unregistered?

Yes. If you take the court at any time during the season (including during grading) your team will have points permanently deducted from your ladder. For more information on player registration, please visit our website.

 

GAME TICKETS

What is a game ticket?

For each game that a player participates in across the season, there is a fee called a game ticket. Game tickets cover the costs that GUB incur to run a game of basketball, including -but not limited to – staff, referees and court hire.

 

When do I need to buy a game ticket?

Before each game is played, players, will need to purchase a ticket and take it to their court, add some personal details (name, team and playing number) on the back of it and then leave it in a ticket bucket for a customer service officer to check that you have paid during your games. Tickets must be purchased before a game. Staff can stop a game to ensure that all members have paid.

 

Where do I purchase tickets?

You can purchase tickets at each venue, or you can purchase them online. All GUB venues are card-only facilities. We do not accept cash as a payment method at any venue or at any time.

 

How much is a game ticket?

The current price of game tickets is $12.72

 

WALKOVERS/FORFEITS

What is a walkover or a forfeit?

A walkover or a forfeit is when your team doesn’t have enough players to take the court (four or fewer) and needs to cancel the game because of it.

When you need to give a walkover, GUB should be notified as soon as possible.

If you and a few of your teammates have a planned holiday, a school camp, or are going to be away when you would normally play, please let us know well in advance, and we may be able to swap some things around to avoid a walkover. Unfortunately, due to the scale and complexity of our fixtures, we are unable to guarantee anything, but we will certainly do our best to ensure the best outcome for everyone!

 

Cost Recovery Fees

When a team provides more the five business days’ notice to GUB of a walkover or a forfeit, we can re-fixture a game or the competition so that we can avoid any unnecessary costs. When this occurs, we do not pass on a cost recovery fee.

When a team provides less than five days’ notice to GUB of a walkover or forfeit, we are unable to move the game and the team will incur costs for unused court hire, referees and staff wages that need to be paid. If you do not provide GUB with adequate notice of a walkover, we ask teams that you help us cover the costs that we incur with a cost recovery fee.

 

How much are cost recovery fees?

Junior teams – $106

Senior team – $127.20

 

Who is liable to pay cost recovery fees?

The team contact is sent an email with an invoice, however, it is the responsibility of all team members to ensure that these fees are paid on time.

If needed, you can also contact us and pay via phone or arrange a payment plan.

 

TEAM WITHDRAWAL

This fee is incurred when you withdraw your team after your team’s fixtures have been scheduled. Teams that withdraw from the competition before the fixture is completed will not incur a withdrawal fee.

This cost recovery fee covers the increased administration that GUB incurs when a team leaves us

This fee is $106 per team.

For more information about fees and fines, please see our Geelong United Basketball fees page.

What competitions am I allowed to play in?

Can I change clubs? Am I allowed to play in multiple teams? What competitions am I eligible to play in?

CAN I CHANGE CLUBS?

What is a transfer?

A transfer refers to when a player wishes to move from one community club to another. You can’t play for two different clubs in one season, but you can move to other clubs between seasons if you wish to.

If you are participating with a social or school league team, you won’t need to worry about a transfer. Social and School League teams are considered independent and don’t have restrictions like club teams do. You also don’t need to consider a transfer if you are playing for a club and a social team across the season; you can play both at once.

 

Who do I need to talk to about transferring?

If you are transferring from one community club to another, you will need to go through the transfer process before you will be able to pay your player registration to your new club.

Talk to both clubs, your current home club and your destination club, about your move before you start the process.

Important information to tell your destination club includes your full name, date of birth, and if you have ever played in a pathway program (i.e. BigV, NBL1 or VJBL). It’s also important to talk about the difference between a loan (temporary movement) and a clearance (permanent movement) as these have slightly different processes.

Important information to discuss with your current club is to let them know that you are leaving and why and to make sure that you’re financially clear to move.

 

How do I start the transfer process?

When a person is transferring clubs, they will need approval from their current club, destination club and GUB before they can fully register as a player. This is managed through PlayHQ, where once you have started to register it will prompt all three parties of the movement and allow them to accept or deny the transfer.

The process can take anywhere from 1 day to two weeks to be completed.

Once the process is complete, and you have been cleared from all parties to move, you will be sent a prompt from PlayHQ to complete your registration.

 

Are all transfers approved?

Some participants will not be eligible to transfer to some clubs at certain points of the year as we enforce a points system for juniors and seniors (winter only). If you play in our senior championship competition in winter or have played VJBL, BigV or other pathway programs in the last 3 years this will likely affect you. You can read the full rules in our bylaws/operations manual.

For participants who are not involved in the above programs, you are likely to be able to move freely.

For assistance or more specific information on your situation, please speak with your clubs or contact us.

 

AM I ALLOWED TO PLAY IN MULTIPLE TEAM IN THE ONE SEASON?

There is no restriction on how many teams you are allowed to play in across one season, but there are restrictions on what teams you play in.

 

You are allowed to play in as many social teams (or club teams in social competitions) as you wish to. You can only play for one team per night of competition on a regular basis. Once you qualify for finals in one division, you are no longer eligible to fill in for a lower team on the same night.

 

You are allowed to play for multiple club teams, but all teams must be from the same club. I.e. you can play for Division 1 Women YMCA on a Monday and Div 1 Women YMCA on a Tuesday. You can’t play for Div 1 women Try Boys on a Thursday as well as your YMCA teams.

 

You are allowed to play for both a club team and a social team. Social teams are independent and don’t affiliate with any club. This means that you can play for any social team in addition to your club team/s. This will affect your registration process, so please make sure to read about how to manage multiple registrations

 

Some clubs enter teams into the social competition. In this situation, the teams are considered independent and the social/school league team rules apply to them in full.

 

 

WHAT COMPETITIONS AM I ELIGIBLE TO PLAY IN?

All our junior competitions (competitions that start with “under”) are restricted by age. Players that are older than the outlined ages below are not permitted to play in those competitions. If you would like to seek special consideration, please speak to your club or contact us for more information.

Players that are younger than the outlined ages below are welcome to play.  i.e. a player deemed as an U14’s player can play in U16’s, U18’s or older competitions, but cannot play in U12’s or U10’s competitions.

 

Junior Club Competition

The ages for our club-based competitions are calculated based on a participant’s age as of the 31st of December 2024 (For the S23/24 and W24 seasons). This means that you must calculate how old you will be on 31/12/2024 and enter into the competition that meets these criteria. You can also determine what age group you best belong to based on the Year of Births that are in the adjacent columns.

 

Summer 23/24 and Winter 24 Age Groups
Under-8 Under-10 Under-12 Under-14 Under-16 Under-18 Under-20 Under-23 Seniors
Ages 6 &7 (or younger) Ages 8 & 9 (or younger) Ages 10 &11 (or younger) Ages 12 & 13 (or younger) Ages 14 & 15 (or younger) Ages 16 &17 (or younger) Ages 18 & 19 (or younger) Ages 20, 21 and 22 (or younger) Open
Year of Birth
2017 & 2018 or later 2015 or 2016 2013 or 2014 2012 & 2011 2010 & 2009 2008 & 2007 2006 & 2005 2004, 2003 & 2002 Must have turned 15-years-old

This chart is correct for Summer 2023/24 and Winter 2024 seasons.

 

School League

This social junior competition is called the School League because of the way we define the age groups for the competitions (rather than the year of birth, we use the school grade they are in). For a school-based competition, you must enter into the competition that best defines what level the player will be undertaking at school, based on the final date of the season.

 

Competition Eligible Players
Prep – Grade 2 Players who are in Prep, Grade 1, and Grade 2 in 2024
Grade 3 & 4 Players who are in Grade 3 or 4 in 2024
Grade 5 & 6 Players who are in Grade 5 or 6 in 2024
Year 7 & 8 Players who are in Year 7 or 8 in 2024
Year 9 -11 Players who are in Years 9, 10 or 11 in 2024

This chart is correct for the Summer 2023/24  and Winter 2024 seasons.

 

Senior Competitions

Senior competitions are set up for players 18 y/o or over. Players between 15 – 17 y/o are also permitted to play but need to be aware that they will be playing against men.

Players who are under 15 years old are not eligible to play in the seniors unless their parent/guardian completes the online indemnity form. The form acknowledges that the underage player is entering a senior competition and other teams are not expected to play differently due to the age of your player. These players must complete the form before playing. Complete the form online here.

 

Is my team allowed to get someone to fill in?

Yes. However, there are some limitations that you must follow on exactly who can fill in for your team.

  1. All fill-ins must be registered before they are allowed to play.
  2. Players in a club competition must be from a lower age group or from an equal or lower division within their age group.
  3. Players in a social competition are allowed to have a player fill in who plays on a different night, or who is from a lower division or age group.
When and where will my games be played?

Do GUB grade competitions? When and where will I be playing? How do I find my fixture? Does GUB take fixture requests?

COMPETITION TIME & LOCATIONS

All teams should anticipate playing at any of our GUB venues across the season.

Teams should also anticipate that they could be playing between the following times for any game across the season:

Junior: between 4:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Senior: between 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm

 

DOES GUB TAKE FIXTURE REQUESTS?

GUB does not take fixture requests.

Unfortunately, with the size of our competition, we can no longer fairly implement fixture requests. We do our best to ensure that every team has an equitable spread of times and locations as possible so that no one team is frequently disadvantaged.

We will do our best to accommodate any team that needs a week off for a special event. To get this ball rolling please contact us with you and your team’s details.

 

DOES GUB GRADE IT’S COMPETITIONS?

Yes, GUB grades all its competitions that have more than one division.

 

What is grading?

Grading is a part of the season where GUB will use your team’s results to ensure that you are in the most competitive division possible.

Grading is held between weeks 1 – 6 of each season, with it to conclude between weeks 4 – 6 at the discretion of the competition’s administration.

Immediately following the grading period are two rounds of relegation. Relegation is when the official season has started, but we keep an eye on them to ensure that they are in the correct division.

 

Can I request for my team to be in a specific grade?

Requests for a review of grading results can be made in writing to GUB’s competition team during the relegation and grading period. All decisions on a team’s final position are made based on results and GUB is not obliged to move a team.

Movements made following the relegat0ion period are only completed due to extenuating circumstances and are rarely granted.

 

Do the ladders reset at any point during the season?

Ladders will be reset at the end of the grading period/beginning of the official season. If any changes in a grade are made after this period, all previous games will become draws. This will be able to be noted in the adjustment column of your grades ladder (advanced ladder).

Please see the fact sheet on ladder adjustments.

 

HOW DO I FIND MY FIXTURE?

All fixtures can be found online, on PlayHQ.

During grading and the relegation period (Rounds 1-8), the fixtures are released one week at a time, due to the large number of changes that occur every week.

Following this period the remainder of the season will be released for you to see. It’s important to note that fixtures are subject to change at any time and if a change is made with more than 5 days before the game date, you won’t be notified of the change.

To ensure that you always have the correct time and location, please check your fixtures regularly.

Do I need to bring anything to my game?

What are the uniform requirements? Other things to bring with you each game.

WHAT ARE THE UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS?

If you are part of a club, they will arrange your uniforms for you. Please contact your club directly about getting a new uniform or a replacement for an old uniform.

Social and school teams are responsible for obtaining their uniforms.

There must be numbers on the front and the back of the uniform that can be easily identifiable by the referees. This means that the numbers cannot be written, taped or drawn on but should be sublimated, printed, or ironed on.

Teams will forfeit “uniform points” (two per item out of uniform) to the other team if out of uniform. This will be applied after grading. You can read more about uniform restrictions on this fact sheet.

The best place to arrange uniforms is online. However, you can also purchase them at Kmart, Rebel, and De Grandi Cycle & Sport. We recommend the purchase of reversible singlets in case of a colour clash.

 

Can I wear my club uniform whilst playing in a social competition?

No. You will need to seek special permission directly from the club to play in their uniform in a social competition. The only exception to this are club team’s that have been entered into social competitions.

 

DO GUB PROVIDE WARM-UP BASKETBALLS?

No. GUB will always have the correct-sized basketball for your competition ready for your game, but we won’t provide you with a ball to warm up with.

We found that when we provided basketballs to teams to warm up with, the rate they were being taken following the game increased significantly and led to teams playing later in the evening needing to play with a subpar basketball.

You are encouraged and welcomed to bring your own basketball to your game each week to warm up with.

 

PERSONAL EQUIPMENT AND FIRST AID

At every venue, GUB has a basic first aid kit, ice and trained staff member that you can access should you injure yourself during a game.

GUB doesn’t provide any specific medications or basic pain relief (i.e. Paracetamol/Ibuprofen) nor do we provide tape for fingernails, jewellery or for ankle/knee strapping.

 

What should I do if I injure myself during a game?

Please alert the Customer Service Officer (CSO) present on your game night that you have sustained an injury – Doest matter how big or small it is! If you can’t walk or find the CSO, please ask the referees on your game to assist you.

The CSO will be able to provide you with any first aid assistance or call for further medical assistance should you need it.

 

Do I have insurance if I hurt myself during a game?

Yes! When you have paid your player registration you have also paid for your on-court insurance. This is covered by a third party arranged by Basketball Victoria, called V- Insurance.

For information on what you can claim and how to claim it, please visit their website.

Are there any special competition rules I need to know about?

Junior development rules, Zero Tolerance Policy and Fill-ins.

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT RULES

For each of our junior competitions, we have a set of rules that are different to the standard FIBA rules. These rules are in place to help aid the development of basketball skills for all players in the competitions.

We have created a fact sheet for each of the competitions that summarises the rules applicable to your competition and another that explains them in detail and why we implement them.

You can view the development rules here.

 

ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY

GUB enforces a Zero Tolerance Policy across all its competitions – club or social, junior or senior.

Geelong United is committed to creating a friendly, safe and supportive environment for all participants to play basketball. We encourage mature and respectful communication from all participants involved in our community to achieve this.

For more information about the policy, please see this fact sheet for a breakdown of how it is applied

Does my competition have finals?

Find out more about finals for your competition

FINALS

For each competition in the community competition, GUB hosts finals.

Depending on what competition you are playing in will determine how your finals will be structured.

For most competitions, each player will need to play a minimum number of games to participate in the finals. This process is called qualifying. Players who don’t meet this number are not allowed to play in finals or will need to contact GUB for an exemption.

To read more about finals qualifications, exemptions and each competition’s finals structure please see our website.

What is PlayHQ?

How does the PlayHQ system work

PlayHQ

PlayHQ is the program that we use for fixtures, registrations and data recording related to our community program.

When you register a team or yourself, you will need to make an account. Your account will record your statistics and payments and have settings related to your contact information that you can keep up to date, including privacy settings.

It is important to remember your login details for future registrations and team entries. Creating another profile on PlayHQ will cause you to lose any statistics and records of payments and may cause you to overpay registration fees.

If you play another sport (Australian Rules football, netball, cricket), you may already have an account with PlayHQ. You can use the same login details/account to manage your basketball-related items.

For any troubleshooting or problems, PlayHQ has a helpful page here. Please also feel free to contact us with any problems that you may encounter.

How do I give GUB feedback?

Expand for details

GUB COMMUNICATION

Our primary method of contacting teams and players is via email.

When we make a change to the fixture, there is a change to the way we can play basketball, or some important information to tell you, we will always contact your team contact (The participant who entered the team online) and in some circumstances we will also contact each player via email.

We will also send any team fees that a team has incurred to the team contact to manage.

By default, your team contact is the person who entered the team. If you would like to change this, please contact us and we can update this for you online.

When there is a more urgent matter (ie; game cancelled, venue issue), we will call or text your team contact.

For any queries that you may have across the season, please reach out to us via admin@Geelongunitedbasketball.com.auor (03) 5277 1388

 

FEEDBACK

GUB is open to feedback about your experience, and we encourage you to reach out to us.

For all on-court incidents, we ask that you abide by the 24-hour cooling down period.

For feedback or general inquiries, you can contact us at any time at feedback@geelongunitedbasketball.com.au or (03) 5277 1388

Where can I find more information?

Policies, documents and getting in touch.

Policies and Documents

All our policies and documents can be found via this link.

For any other question, that can’t be answered by any of our factsheets, or policies, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

CONTACT US