Gordon Sincock
After his marriage to Barbara in 1958, he obtained a position in the engineering drawing office working for the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation at Port Moresby PNG.
There was no scope to continue his cycling in Port Moresby. With few sealed roads and noorganized cycling competitions, he took up 3 main sports, Rugby League, Australian Rules and Basketball.
Gordon was recruited by the local news media – “South Pacific Post” and 9PA (the ABC Station located in Port Moresby). He became the voice of Basketball throughout the territory. He wrote about Basketball & Rugby League in the newspaper under the pseudonym of “Drop Kick”but used his own name on radio.
In 1964 Gordon brought a representative men’s team from PNG to the Australian Club Championships. Prior to that event he asked Lindsay Gaze about the manufacture of uniforms for the PNG team, “No worry” was the reply, “send down your design and sizes, my mum will make them”.
Gordon was a pioneer in the late 1980’s with the then Sassy (Prowess) Sports Administration System, now better known as “Procomp”. A player in the comp said to Gordon one night, “My name is Gundars Mantinieks; I have just graduated from Melbourne Uni in Computer science. I will write you a program to calculate your Ladders”. Gordon replied “I want a program to accomplish every task for the management of the Association”. Gordon then wrote a specification and helped Gundars to develop the product. Later he went around to all the Victorian Associations and trained each competition manager on the operation of its competition and membership programs.
In the 1980’s Gordon became a board member with the Victorian Amateur Basketball Association Community Co-operative Advancement Society Ltd – trading as Basketball Stadiums Victoria and nowadays as Sports Stadiums Victoria. This is the facility management and construction arm of Basketball Victoria and instrumental in the construction and management of many basketball stadiums throughout the state. Primarily; Albert Park and now MSAC, Coburg, Hampton Park, Traralgon, Bellarine and Mill Park. In 1997 Gordon became the interim Chairperson of the Committee of Management of the Keilor Basketball Stadium which saved the Association from debts of $300K and allowed it to grow and prosper to the major Association it is today in the Basketball Association affiliation.
Gordon has long been President of his beloved Metropolitan and Southern Districts Spartans Association which plays competitions at MSAC, formerly the Albert Park Basketball Stadium.
The current Metro and Southern Districts Association evolved from the combination ofAssociations:
Metropolitan Amateur Basketball Association
Olympic Amateur Basketball Association
Southern Districts Basketball Club
Gordon Sincock was elected President of the combined Association and has held the position ever since – 33 years!
In 1997 all the competitions were transferred to 10 courts at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.