Revised
05/09/01
1. PRE-HISTORY, THE 1960s
The first real attempt to
form a National League in England had come in 1960, when an inaugural meeting
was held, at the Birmingham Athletic Institute, in February.
From
where the initiative had originally come is not clear, but the invitations were
sent out by the Association’s Assistant Secretary, Huw Clayton-Jones. The
meeting set up an “England Amateur Basketball League” committee, with Brian
Coleman (later the Association’s Technical Officer) as it’s General
Secretary, and Morris Wordsworth (the Doncaster Coach, later to coach the
national team and to become an EBBA director) as Treasurer.
The
committee had grand plans, for a two division competition, but there was an
indication of two of the major problems that were to beset the League right up
to the present day, when fears over travelling expenses led to several teams
dropping out!
It
must be remembered, however, that this was in the days when there were still
only three motorways in the country (the Preston by-pass, M6; a short stretch of
the M1; and the Doncaster by-pass, A1(M)), and so travel really would have been
expensive … and time consuming.
The
result was that the renamed “National Basketball League” tipped off in early
October 1960, with nine members – Borehamwood Bullets, Watford Royals,
Nottingham Dodgers, Aspley Old Boys (Nottingham), Birmingham Athletic Institute,
Birmingham Dolobran, Doncaster Panthers, Manchester YMCA Comets, and Billingham
Tech.
Most
of these names will be unfamiliar to modern basketball fans, but they were among
the top provincial sides in the country at the time. Dolobran had won the
National Championship Cup (then the premier competition in the country) in 1951,
and finished as losing finalists in ’52, ’53, ’55 and ’59, while Aspley
were the 1959 winners.
The
key word, though, is “provincial”, as the London teams felt that they had
strong enough competition in their own London League, and they all shunned the
new “national” competition. Since the two strongest teams in the country in
the ‘60s were London based (Central YMCA and London Poly.), this had a
detrimental effect on both the standard of the National League, and on general
perception of it. Between 1952 and 1964, London teams won all but one of the
National Championship Finals!
The
new League pressed on undaunted, and its quality was shown when eight of their
number reached reached the last 16 of the National Championship, but that
title remained in London, with the University beating Central YMCA 68-59 in the
Final, held at South Ruislip.
The
national league comprised the same
nine teams in 1961-2, but without the London clubs its prospects were slim, and
two seasons later there were just five members.
That
prompted a re-think, and a regionalisation (there really is nothing new in
basketball!), and in 1965-6 there were three sections, with a total of 16 teams,
including two from Scotland.
In
1966 the "foreign" element was recognised, with a change of name to
the British Basketball League (there really is nothing new ... etc.), and in '69
it became the "Rose Bowl".
Despite the fact that
there were forty entries for this competition, it had clearly ceased to be a
national "League", despite the appointment of a full-time
administrator (Mel Welch).
By
1972, the Scots had their own thriving National League, though also competing in
the “Rose Bowl”, and when a London team, Sutton, defeated Edinburgh’s
Boroughmuir Barrs in the 1972 Final, the Basketball Association decided that it
was time to relaunch the idea of an English National League.
There
was still some opposition to the idea. Several
people pointed out that no other amateur sport had a national league – not
Hockey, not Rugby Union; the only national leagues were in the professional
sports, such as Soccer and Rugby League (and the latter was hardly truly
national, as it was restricted to
Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria).
Undaunted,
but learning from the possible overambition of the
earlier venture, The
Basketball Association pressed ahead, and held a "National
Invitation Tournament", at Bingham outside Nottingham, to select
the inaugural participants.
There
was a good geographic spread among ten teams that took part in the
two-day event. London was represented by Avenue (the Cup holders) and
Sutton (the previous year's beaten Cup Finalists), while Sussex
Chevrons and St. Luke's Exeter were also Southern-based; Loughborough
All-Stars and West Midlands appeared for the Midlands, and Liverpool,
Stretford and Sheffield represented the North. RAF Fliers had no
specific location, but had plans to take their games around the
country, if selected.
Unfortunately
I don't have complete results for the Tournament (I don't even know
how the Pool stage was organised), but there is enough information
available to give an understandable (I hope) explanation.
| Pools: |
Av. |
Liv. |
Lou. |
RAF |
Sh. |
St.L. |
Str. |
Sus. |
Sut. |
W.M |
P. |
W. |
L. |
| Avenue |
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
|
| Liverpool |
|
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
2 |
1 |
| Loughborough |
|
|
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
|
| RAF
Fliers |
|
|
|
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
|
| Sheffield
Scorpions |
- |
- |
- |
- |
x |
96-65 |
73-59 |
- |
79-71 |
- |
3 |
3 |
0 |
| St.
Luke's |
|
|
|
|
65-96 |
x |
|
|
|
|
3 |
2 |
1 |
| Stretford |
|
|
|
|
59-73 |
|
x |
|
|
|
3 |
|
|
| Sussex
Chevron |
|
|
|
|
- |
|
|
x |
|
|
3 |
2 |
1 |
| Sutton |
|
|
|
|
71-79 |
|
|
|
x |
|
3 |
|
|
| West
Midlands |
|
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
x |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter
Finals: |
Semi
Finals: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Liverpool |
74 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| St.
Luke's |
67 |
} |
Liverpool |
|
74 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
} |
Liverpool |
79 |
|
|
|
| Sussex
Chevron |
72 |
} |
Sussex
Chevron |
67 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| RAF
Fliers |
53 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Sheffield |
81 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Loughborough |
65 |
} |
Sheffield |
|
89 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
} |
Sheffield |
71 |
|
|
|
| Avenue |
73 |
} |
Avenue |
|
61 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Sutton |
68 |
} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sheffield
Scorpions (who included England International and Tournament top
scorer Mike Gattorna) had a great first day, winning all three of
their games, with Liverpool (including Steve Latham), Sutton, Sussex
and St. Luke's all having lost just one of three.
The
event progressed to the knock-out stages on the second day, with
Liverpool, Sussex, Sheffield and Avenue all progressing to the
semi-finals. The Final, between Liverpool and Sheffield, proved to be
an excellent advert for English basketball, despite the fact that the
players must have been well knackered as they played their sixth game
in thirty-six hours.
Sheffield
played aggressive defence, coupled with fast-breaking attack, usually
led by Gattorna, while Liverpool relied on a slower build-up,
orchestrated by Vaughan Thomas, while Latham dominated the boards. In
a tense second half key players from both sides began to foul out -
most crucially Mike Gattorna for Sheffield. Despite that, the
Scorpions pulled back to within three points, but Liverpool played out
the final minute to lift the trophy.
|
National
Invitation Tournament placings |
| 1 |
Liverpool |
Selected
for National League |
| 2 |
Sheffield
Scorpions |
Selected
for National League |
| 3 |
Avenue |
Selected
for National League |
| 4 |
Sussex
Chevron |
Not
selected |
| 5= |
Loughborough
All-Stars |
Selected
for National League |
| 5= |
RAF
Fliers |
Selected
for National League |
| 7= |
Sutton |
Selected
for National League |
| 7= |
St.
Luke's, Exeter |
Not
selected |
| 9 |
Stretford |
Not
selected |
| 10 |
West
Midlands |
Not
selected |
There
were strict criteria to be met for a team to be accepted, in addition
to playing strength (again, there’s
nothing new in basketball!), and six of the top seven in the NIT were
chosen to take part in the new National League. The League was as nearly national as it was
possible to be with such small numbers, with two teams from London,
one from the East Midlands, two from the North, and one peripatetic.
|
Acknowledgements: |
| Many thanks to: |
| |
John "Statkinson"
Atkinson |
| |
Morris Wordsworth |
| |
Sid Lypski |
| |
"Basketball Review
1980-1981", ed. Richard Taylor |