Inner Melbourne has four associations with pages here. Camberwell, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Melbourne Basketball Association. Three separate junior leagues operate across them. Camberwell's Community Basketball League, the EDJBA, and each association's own competition. Boroondara alone is served by two associations, so a single suburb can offer you a genuine choice.
Written by Cameron James, founder and head coach at Liddicoat Basketball. Over a decade coaching junior basketball in Melbourne, including at Big V level, and rep teams from Under 12s through to Under 18s.
Last updated August 2026.
Inner Melbourne packs more junior basketball into fewer kilometres than anywhere else in the state, and the associations overlap rather than tile neatly.
Camberwell Basketball runs the Camberwell Dragons in the VJBL and operates its own junior domestic competition, the Community Basketball League. Basketball Hawthorn is based in the Boroondara community, was home to thirteen domestic clubs through the 2010s with 8,000 players, coaches and officials, and enters the Hawthorn Magic in both the EDJBA and the VJBL.
Collingwood Basketball Association plays out of Collingwood Stadium at 10 McCutcheon Way, Collingwood. Junior domestic is on Saturdays and junior representative basketball is on Fridays, with entry programs including Little Stars, Aussie Hoops and Rep Ready underneath.
Melbourne Basketball Association runs across the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Albert Park College and Fitzroy High School. The Melbourne Tigers represent the association at championship junior and senior levels, including NBL1.
Camberwell's Community Basketball League launched in February 2022 with more than 450 teams. By the 2026 winter season it had more than 520 teams across twelve domestic clubs, playing on weekends at venues around the inner east. It is a large competition that did not exist five years ago.
The EDJBA also runs through here. Camberwell Basketball itself is affiliated with four EDJBA clubs, Balwyn Blazers, Ivanhoe Knights, Koonung Comets and Whitehorse Mustangs, and Basketball Hawthorn enters teams in the EDJBA as well. So the same association can have some of its clubs in one competition and some in another.
Then there is the acronym problem. In inner Melbourne, CBL means the Community Basketball League, a junior domestic competition. In regional Victoria, CBL means the Country Basketball League, which is Basketball Victoria's open age representative competition organised into geographic conferences. They are unrelated, and if you are reading a forum thread or a fixture and something does not add up, that is usually why.
On top of those, each association runs its own in house competitions and development programs. Collingwood's junior domestic on Saturdays is its own competition, separate from both leagues above.
Most Melbourne families have one obvious local association. In Boroondara you have Basketball Hawthorn and Camberwell Basketball covering overlapping ground, and that gives you something the rest of the city does not, which is a real choice without moving suburbs.
We are not going to tell you one is better. They are different sizes, they enter different competitions, and the right answer depends on which club near you has a team in your child's age group and where that club trains.
What we will say is that having two associations close together reduces the stakes of getting it wrong. If a club does not suit, there is an alternative within a short drive rather than across the city.
It also means rep tryouts are more accessible here than almost anywhere else. VJBL tryouts for the 2026/27 season are at the start of Term 4, in October 2026, and an inner Melbourne family can realistically attend more than one association's tryout in the same window.
The inner suburbs trade drive time for venue quality, and it is worth going in with clear eyes about that.
Purpose built basketball stadiums are scarce here because land is scarce. Melbourne Basketball Association's venue list is a good illustration. As well as the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, it runs at Albert Park College and Fitzroy High School. School gyms are perfectly good places to play basketball, but they have fewer courts, less seating and no dedicated parking.
The upside is enormous. Your total travel across a season is likely to be the lowest in the state, and a fixture that moves between three or four venues in the inner east still keeps you within a few suburbs.
The downside is Saturday parking, and the fact that a smaller venue means more games squeezed into more time slots. An early morning or an evening game is more common here than in the outer suburbs, and that is worth knowing before you commit a Saturday to it.
If your child has never played, start with an entry program rather than a graded competition. Collingwood runs Little Stars and Aussie Hoops, and every association on this page has something equivalent for beginners.
When you are ready to join a competition, register with a club rather than the association. The club is the entity that enters teams, allocates coaches and tells you which competition you are in. Association registration alone does not put a child on a team.
Ask the club two questions before you pay. Which competition do you enter my child's age group into, and where do the teams train on weeknights. In this part of Melbourne those two answers vary between clubs inside the same association.
And if fees are a barrier, check the Get Active Kids voucher. It provides up to $200 for children aged up to 18, requires a current Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card plus a Medicare card, and the next round opens during September 2026.
A junior domestic competition run by Camberwell Basketball. It launched in February 2022 with more than 450 teams and had more than 520 teams across twelve clubs in the 2026 winter season, playing weekends at venues around the inner east.
Both, depending on where you are. In inner Melbourne it is Camberwell's junior Community Basketball League. In regional Victoria it is Basketball Victoria's open age Country Basketball League. They are separate competitions.
Two do. Basketball Hawthorn describes itself as a contributor to the Boroondara community, and Camberwell Basketball covers overlapping ground, so many families in that council area have a genuine choice.
Collingwood Stadium at 10 McCutcheon Way, Collingwood. Junior domestic is on Saturdays and junior representative basketball is on Fridays.
Often not. Melbourne Basketball Association runs at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Albert Park College and Fitzroy High School. School gyms are common inside the inner suburbs, which means fewer courts and tighter parking.
Next questions parents ask
Every competition in this guide
Facts on this page were compiled from the official sources below and written up in our own words. Dates, fees and venues change every season, so confirm anything you are relying on with the association directly.
This page was last updated August 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
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