On the 20^th May 1986, John Martin & Rex Nottage (Basketball New South Wales) Ted Powell (South Australia Country Basketball) and Max Brisbane (Country Victorian Basketball) met in Melbourne to discuss how best to conduct a Tournament for the Champion Senior Mens & Women’s Country Teams from each State.

After a while it became obvious that the direction was wrong and a Competition for the best Junior Teams from each of the Country areas was slowly devised.

The competition was to be called the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup.

Basketball Australia initially objected to the event and stated that the Country Associations had no right to use the word “Australian” in the title.

To diffuse the issue, it was decided to remove the word Australian and include a map of Australia.

Fortunately Basketball Australia relented a number of years later and it is interesting to note that in the past 40 years, only the Australia Schools Championship devised by Gary Evans and Chris White from Basketball Australia, the Country Cup is the only new event on the Australian Basketball Calendar.

Twenty Eight teams competed in Cup 1 from New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Northern Territory in Under 16 and Under 18 Boys & Girls Divisions from Wednesday 21^st January until Sunday 25^th January 1987 with a high concentration on “Development”.

The standard of competition continues to improve year after year but the original “Development” aspect has been maintained and become remarkably successful, a remarkable record after thirty four highly successful events.

The Cup Directors would like to acknowledge the financial contribution and assistance of the Albury and Wodonga City Councils.