Cowling has accepted a senior role with leading Australian sports technology company, SportingPulse, where he will be involved in the development of that company's exciting partnership with the worldwide governing body for basketball, FIBA.

Neal thanked Cowling for his contribution to the league over the past four seasons, and wished Cowling the very best in his new role.

"Matthew has done a great job for us, and brought real passion to the role as CEO; the league has gone ahead in leaps and bounds under his stewardship."

"The great news for us is that he will not be lost to the sport; throughout his time with the league we have benefited from Matthew's relationships at all levels of the game, I am sure we will continue to see the benefits of that as he takes on this new role".

Cowling said that leaving the BigV was difficult, mainly because of the strong friendship he had experienced with so many clubs and associations.

"The BigV is a unique sporting organisation" he said, "in that the membership is united and there is a great social cohesion right through the league - the support we have received for so many new initiatives over the last four years has been fantastic".

Cowling nominated three highlights of his time with the BigV; the successful rebranding of the organisation from VBL to BigV, the competition restructure which had created the Divisional and Youth League pathways, and a large range of small initiatives which the clubs had embraced and which had improved the professional presentation of the league - from pre-printed program covers to templates for sponsorship and assistance with promotion and marketing.

"We have introduced a great deal of change over the last four years and while it has been heavily debated, invariably that change has been embraced by the membership and made the league a better organisation - the trust that the membership has shown in the office and the Board is most gratifying."

Neal said the organisation would embark on a search for Cowling's replacement forthwith, and that there was an opportunity now to examine the staffing structure of the league as a whole, to ensure the future planning of the league could be delivered.

The Big V is the largest senior representative basketball league in Australia and one of the largest in the world, with 101 men's and women's teams representing 45 member associations. The league has seen consistent growth at a time where leagues in other sports are diminishing. In 2002, the league had 67 teams, with growth at nearly 9% per annum since that period.