Our people. Our stories. Our history: Ian Satie

Ian Satie was there at the beginning of the Perth Wildcats story. An inaugural member of the Westate Wildcats in 1982, Satie played across three seasons and was part of the club from its earliest days.

For Satie, the opportunity to play in the NBL was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition.

“That’s what you dreamed of your whole basketball career,” Satie said.

“The pinnacle in those days was to play in the NBL. Once we had the opportunity to have the Wildcats, that goal was to play for them.

“Every game, you gave it 110 per cent. You looked forward to those games and the camaraderie that came with it as well.”

The inaugural team came from a close-knit Western Australian basketball community, where many of the players already knew each other well.

“We were a family before that anyway,” Satie said.

“In those days, it was the Westate Wildcats. From that point on, I’ve still kept in contact with a lot of the past players.”

More than four decades later, those relationships remain. Former players from across the club’s history stay connected through a WhatsApp group carrying a suitably light-hearted name: the Wildcats Retirement Village.

“It’s great because there are a lot of past players, right from 1982, and even some of our current players,” Satie said.

“Once they retire, we embrace them and bring them on board as part of that group. We still catch up once or twice a year and have a few drinks.

“The more drinks we have, the better we were, as they say.

“We still keep in contact. We’re a family.”

Satie has seen that connection continue throughout the Wildcats’ history, with many recruited players choosing to remain in Perth or return after spending time elsewhere.

“There are a few examples throughout the years of players who have come over, been recruited and stayed because Perth is where they want to live,” he said.

“Some have gone away and come back. It’s a fantastic environment and a great place to bring up a family.

“The club has also been able to embrace them after they’ve retired because they still have a lot to offer the basketball community.”

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The life of an NBL player looked very different when Satie joined the Wildcats. Playing basketball came alongside a full-time job with Telstra and a schedule that stretched from early morning until night.

“I was very lucky because Telstra allowed me to do it, as long as I did my job,” Satie said.

“We trained in the mornings before work, then did a full day of work and trained again in the afternoons.

“You’d go home, crash and repeat it every day of the week. Then you had the weekend games. If you had one game on the weekend, that was fantastic, but with double-headers it was seven days a week, basically from sun-up to sundown.

“It was a time when you played for the love of it.”

Home games at the 800-seat Perry Lakes Stadium drew a crowd filled with people who often had a personal connection to someone on the court.

The players knew the supporters and the supporters knew the players.

“You just about knew everyone in the crowd,” Satie said.

“They were fans, but they were also somehow related to the guys who were on the court. It was one massive family.

“It was an amazing environment. You wanted to perform.”

Ian's Wildcats story was also shared with his father, Terry, who served as team manager across four seasons from 1983 to 1986.

Like so many of the people who helped establish the club, Terry gave his time freely and approached it with the same commitment as the players on the court.

“My dad was manager of the team for a couple of years while I was playing,” Satie said.

“He let me do my thing and I let him do his. My dad had a very good sense of humour and made a lot of people laugh, but he took his role very seriously.

“He was always there before everyone else started training and nearly always the last one to leave. He wasn’t getting paid either, so he was doing it for the love.”

Players, staff and volunteers all contributed to keeping the Wildcats moving through those early years.

“When you’re talking nearly 45 years ago, you had to start somewhere,” Satie said.

“To have a team like that, with all those people who were basically volunteers, and to go from where it started to where it is now is a massive achievement.”

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Today, Ian still loves attending Wildcats home games and knows there will usually be other former players somewhere in the crowd.

The surroundings have transformed from the 800-seat Perry Lakes Stadium to crowds of more than 13,000 at RAC Arena.

“When you watch games now at RAC Arena, you’re looking at 12,000, 13,000 or 14,000 people,” Satie said.

“You think back and realise we were part of that. We were there at the start of the journey. We were pioneers of the team that’s out there on the court, and then you look at the product now and it’s absolutely amazing.

“It feels like you’ve achieved something when you watch the fans and the players out on court.”

“I love going and watching the guys play now,” he said.

“A lot of the past players will always be around somewhere in the crowd. You’ll find quite a few of us are still there watching the home games.”

More than four decades later, Satie remains proud of where the Wildcats began, how far the club has come and the family that still connects its past players.

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