Kings Display ANZAC Spirit to Sky Sport Breakers

On the court, they are one of the Sky Sport Breakers’ most fearsome foes, but off it the Kings have displayed true ANZAC spirit to the kiwis on their arrival into Sydney.

They’ve announced the revenue generated from tickets purchased in supporter bays at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night will be donated entirely to the Breakers organisation.

Kings Chairman and Owner Paul Smith said that while maintaining intense rivalries is vital for the NBL, teams also need to show support for each other in this COVID-affected season where all clubs are financially heavily impacted. 

In the Breakers’ case, there are still at least 30 games to go this season, and the prospect of playing in New Zealand any time soon looks remote.

The team has been based in Australia since mid-December.

Breakers owner Matt Walsh is blown away by the Kings’ generosity and now hopes kiwi hoops fans in Sydney will have added motivation to attend the game.

“I can’t thank my friends Paul Smith, Chris Pongrass and the Sydney Kings enough”, said Walsh. 

“This is a challenging year for everyone navigating a COVID world, and our guys are doing it particularly hard being away from home.

“While the Sky Sport Breakers are fierce competitors with the Kings on the court, we are in this together off it, and their support for us is so incredibly generous.

“The Kings put on one of the best game nights in the league, and I hope all our Sydney based supporters will come to the game on Friday.

From all of us here in New Zealand, nga mihi”.

Having spent the last seven weeks on the road themselves, the Kings know all too well the challenges facing the Breakers.

They can identify with the constantly changing environment confronting Dan Shamir’s team where players and staff live away from home, and members and fans have no certainty when they will get to see their team play next.

Kings Chairman and Owner Paul Smith believes their support of the Breakers is the right thing to do.

“A lot of teams are in a similar boat as the Breakers with having long stints on the road, but they’ve definitely got it far worse than anyone else” said Smith.

“From my perspective, I just felt that we needed to do something here in Sydney; we’ve got a big New Zealand population here, and they need some help right now.”

“Our guys received tremendous support in Adelaide and Cairns over the last few weeks and I think that’s the general courtesy we all show, but this is a higher-level need, similarly to the way everyone dug-deep and rallied around the Warriors during the NRL season,” said Smith.

It may not be in our best interest to have a whole bunch of New Zealand fans coming out to support them in our house, but we are more than happy to see the financial support go to their club because they’re not hosting home games for the foreseeable future.”

“I see this as my responsibility as an owner to help out another owner, and I hope this sets the premise for what we should all be doing to support each other.”

The Breakers meet the Kings at Qudos Bank Arena this Friday night from 9:30 pm NZDT.

Adding to the game, former Breaker Tom Vodanovich suits up against his old side for the first time.

All tickets are available at ticketek.com.au. New Zealand fans looking to show their support for the Breakers can do so by purchasing into one of the ‘Away Supporters’ bays.