During the 1970s and 1980s, Australian women's basketball was successful in terms of attracting participants and having a competitive team on the international stages.
[1] The WNBL was founded during the early 1980s to help improve the quality of the domestic play with the hope of providing a pathway for top Australian players to join the national team.
In 2009, the salaries for average players in the WNBL were not high enough to allow them to play basketball full-time: They made between $5,000 - $10,000 a year.
Amongst these are Lauren Jackson, Erin Phillips, Kristi Harrower, Belinda Snell, Penny Taylor and Liz Cambage, all of whom have played basketball in the United States.
[18] During the 2010/2011 season, the Women's National Basketball League had 77,944 total spectators watch a game live.