Leicester Riders

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Leicester Riders
Founded 1967
Hall John Sandford Center
(800 seats)
Homepage www.leicesterriders.co.uk
Trainer Rob Paternostro
league British Basketball League
2012/13: 1st place
Colours Red / Black / White
Jersey colors
Jersey colors
Kit shorts.svg
home
Jersey colors
Jersey colors
Kit shorts.svg
Away
successes
BBL play-offs 2001, 2013; BBL Regular Season 2013;
BBL Trophy 2016
National Cup 2001; BBL Cup 2013, 2014

The Leicester Riders (officially: Jelson Homes De Montfort University Leicester Riders ) are a professional basketball team from Leicester in England , which in 1987 was one of the founding members of the closed professional league British Basketball League (BBL). Previously, the team, which was founded in Loughborough in 1967 as the Loughborough All-Stars , was a founding member of the then top English division, "National Basketball League" (NBL). With the exception of two seasons between 1980 and 1982, they always belonged to the top division and, with regard to the location in Leicestershire, have shown an extraordinarily high level of continuity compared to other BBL franchises . Most recently, 2013 was the BBL champion.

history

All-Stars (1967 to 1986)

In 1967 the team was formed as an All-Stars in Loughborough, 20 km north of Leicester. In 1972 the "National Basketball League" (NBL) established a national league into which the All-Stars were accepted. The best placement was achieved with fourth place right at the beginning. Afterwards it was not enough to get top placements and in the National Cup, in which the actual championship was played, you could never reach the final. In 1980, the team was canceled from the game, but with support from Leicester a new home was found in the capital of Leicestershire and the team started again in the second division in the 1981/82 season as Leicester All-Stars. After first place in 1982 in the second division, they immediately returned to the top division. As a result, it was not enough to make it to the top positions in the championship, despite positive results for the season. After having hosted the National Cup finals twice in 1982 and 1983, which was now only a cup competition, they reached the National Cup final in 1984, which this time was played in the Royal Albert Hall , and lost it to the Solent Stars .

City Riders (1986 to 1997)

1986 they gave themselves a new name, which is modeled on the sponsor, the local public transport company Leicester City bus , to the designation Leicester (City) Riders was (of English "bus ride", German  bus ride ). Under this name one was a founding member of the British Basketball League (BBL), which brings together the best English and Scottish teams in a closed league. In the first season 1987/88 they finished ninth among 15 teams and only just missed the entry into the play-offs . In the second season there were four fewer teams and they finished fourth after the regular season. The play-off final contested the two Scottish teams Glasgow Rangers BC and Murray BC Livingston, so that the Riders, together with the other semi-finalists and third-placed Bracknell Tigers, was one of the best English teams. In the following season they finished sixth in the league, which had already shrunk to eight teams, after winning only a quarter of the season's games. The play-offs were limited to four teams.

In the 1990/91 season things went up again and they had a positive season balance in fourth place after the regular season. In the play-off semifinals they lost to the dominant defending champion Kingston Kings . But again the final in the National Cup, where they lost to the Sunderland Saints . In the following season they moved into the final of the League Cup BBL Trophy , which was lost to the Thames Valley Tigers . As a result, it was still enough to move into the play-offs, but there they were always eliminated in the first round. In the 1994/95 season a preliminary low point was reached when they finished third from bottom of the table with only eight wins in 36 games after the end of the regular season and missed the play-offs. Three more victories of the season in 1996 reached ninth place in the table and one season later they reached in 1997 as eighth in the table at least the entry into the play-offs, which was followed by an early exit in the final round.

Riders (since 1997)

For the 1997/98 season, the "City" was deleted from the club name to underline the solidarity with the surrounding area. This was done with wise foresight, because the previous Granby Halls venue was closed three years later, so that they returned to Loughborough to the campus of Loughborough University . However, this had an invigorating effect on the sporting success of the franchise. Although they had reached the final in the National Cup again in 1998, which in turn was lost to the Thames Valley Tigers, but otherwise they had not been able to qualify for the play-offs. In the 2000/01 season they won their first national title with two points difference against the London Leopards in the National Cup. This also inspired the riders in the play-offs, which they had reached as fourth in the Northern Conference only with a negative season record, but where they could no longer be stopped and won the play-offs in 2001 against the Sheffield Sharks in the final . The first two title successes, however, were followed by difficult sporting and economic times.

Sponsor logo

In the 2001/02 season they failed as the fifth in the northern group as defending champions already on entry into the play-offs. Even after the regional groups were dissolved, the following season was not enough to get a play-off placement in the regular season, instead they were knocked off eleventh and bottom of the table after only three victories this season. The 2003/04 season saw little recovery, as the sporting record looked hardly better with five wins this season ahead of the even worse Birmingham Bullets . Then they returned to Leicester after four years in the newly built John Sandford Center at De Montfort University . In 2005 they had won a little more than a quarter of the games with eleven wins and fought their way back to the play-off places in tenth. Put under new management and support of the sponsor Jelson Homes, the value of a better youth development, the professional team was again successful and reached again in 2006, the final in the BBL Trophy, which, however, against the winning this season all titles Newcastle Eagles to the " Most Valuable Player " (MVP) of BBL Andrew "Drew" Sullivan was lost. Two play-offs in 2006 and 2007 followed a missed play-off in 2008. However, the riders had ground under their feet again and the most successful times were yet to come.

In the 2008/09 season, the Riders had at the end of the season for the first time since the 1993/94 season again a positive balance with 21 wins in 33 games, which was enough for third place in the final table. In the following two seasons, the season continued to be positive, even if this was not enough for one of the top places. For the 2011/12 season, Drew Sullivan was “loose” from the master Mersey Tigers and this should also be a guarantee for sporting success for the riders. At the end of the 2011/12 season they finished second in the championship behind their former club Newcastle Eagles and also lost the play-off final against the Eagles. In the 2012/13 season all titles were won except for the final in the BBL Trophy, which was lost by two points against the Sheffield Sharks. In the final game of the play-offs and the BBL Cup, they returned the favor for the play-off final defeat against the Eagles a year earlier. As the first player in the Riders, Drew Sullivan became the BBL's MVP, an award he won in 2006 while wearing the Eagles' jersey.

Young talent and cooperations

The Riders youth teams have their own team names and are referred to in ascending order of age as Blaze , Dynamite , Flame and Sparks . Furthermore, one works together with the basketball teams of Loughborough University, whose men's team plays in the second division of the "English Basketball League" (EBL).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Senior Men - Cup Competitions. (No longer available online.) England Basketball . Archived from the original on April 2, 2013 ; accessed on May 27, 2013 (English, overview of finals). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.englandbasketball.co.uk
  2. ↑ 2000–01 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed May 27, 2013 (competition overview).
  3. ↑ 2002–03 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed May 27, 2013 (competition overview).
  4. ↑ 2012–13 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed May 27, 2013 (competition overview).
  5. ^ LR Young Heroes. Leicester Riders, accessed May 27, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Loughborough Students Riders basketball - team details, stats, news, roster. Eurobasket.com, accessed on May 27, 2013 (English, club profile).