1986: 13-0 - how Apollo Stadium became a fortress

As the Adelaide 36ers prepare to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the club’s inaugural championship in 1986, we’ve created a series of articles that tell the story of one of the most remarkable seasons in NBL history.

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Imagine going to the bathroom at half time of an Adelaide 36ers game and having one of the players walk in beside you?

Well, that was the reality at the old Apollo Stadium, the scene of many a triumph for the 36ers in the late 1980s.

Sharing a bathroom with spectators because there were none in the changeroom didn’t seem to bother the Sixers, particularly in 1986 when they went undefeated at their home stadium with an unprecedented 13-0 record during the regular season.

And it was the scene of the club’s inaugural Championship win on October 19 in 1986, when the Sixers beat the Brisbane Bullets 113-91 to avenge the defeat to the same side in the previous year’s final.

The 3000-seat venue, named in honour of the Apollo moon landing missions, opened in 1969 on Kingston Avenue, in Richmond.

It was a place still remembered fondly by one of the young guns of the 1986 side, Mike McKay.

“It was the home of basketball in South Australia,” he told Adelaide 36ers Media.

“You would play your local district games on a Wednesday or a Tuesday night at the Apollo, and then you'd pay your NBL games there.

“I loved it. Apollo was probably one of the best stadiums I felt, as a place to play basketball.

“The court was so springy, the rings were good, you know, the crowd was right on top of you. You had maybe a foot on the sidelines and then it's spectators. It sat 3000, but there was always more jammed in, around the top rafters and so forth.”

His former teammate Al Green has similar memories of crowds flocking to the venue and squeezing in to catch a glimpse of the all conquering side that became known as “The Invincibles”.

“The atmosphere was great, because it was so little that when you get in the back row, your head, if you were too tall, you're hitting the ceiling,” he laughed.

“It was a matchbox, and the people were just zooming in to be part of it, you know? It was a great, great atmosphere.

“You're running down the court, and if you run too fast, you run through some curtains underneath the basket, and there's a bar there.

“It was just a small place, but it was a good effect.”

Another of the 1986 crew, Mark Davis said the atmosphere in the Apollo worked to his side’s favour.

He said he was certain the home support was “daunting” for rival clubs, and that played a huge part in the side winning so many games there on the way to their championship success.

“Apollo was so cool, man,” he smirked.

“You know, the atmosphere and the way everybody was on top of each other, like, you can hit a shot and then reach out and give somebody a high five at the same time running down the floor.

“And you could hear everything that they say, so I'm sure the Apollo Stadium was fairly daunting to some people, especially with the group that we had and the fans that we had.

“They were coming into some serious, serious territory. But that's what the home court is supposed to be all about.”

While the side did lose one game at the Apollo in 1986  - a poor showing in Game 2 of the Grand Final series against the Bullets – there was no doubting it was an absolute fortress.

“I think it was very intimidating for the teams to come in with the noise,” McKay added.

“And the crowd that we would always get were so basketball educated as well. They knew the game so they were very loud and I think as we started to get that record going with the number of wins that we were getting, that teams knew was going to be a dogfight coming in coming into Apollo.

“You want to you want to protect your home court. You want to have teams fear coming into your home court. And I think teams did definitely fear it.”

The Sixers moved to the newly built Powerhouse at Findon ahead of the 1992 season and the Apollo was leased over the next ten years as a venue for religious groups, first by the Hosanna Christian Group [Assemblies of God] and later by the Coastlands International Christian Centre.

It was demolished in mid-2002 with the area used for housing, but its legacy and the memories, particularly from 1986 will live on.

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‍In the third part of our 1986 Championship series recount, we’ll remember another key part of the championship puzzle, the coach Ken Cole.