A HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUES.

7. THE "CLOSE SEASON" 1977:

The lead up to the 1977-8 season was dominated by one topic - Crystal Palace's recruitment of overseas players with British passports.

Palace's initial problem, after a perfect domestic season, was how to replace Jimmy Guymon and Vic Tinsley, both of whom had announced their retirement. In the Summer, "Basketball" reported that Guymon would be back after all; he wasn't, but Tinsley was. Guymon did come back over in August, but returned Stateside in September, leaving the club still to find a replacement.

How do you replace a legend? Simple - you just find another, and Larry Dassie, described by "Basketball" as "a spring heeled wonder" arrived to begin what was to be a glittering career.

With coach Tom Wisman also withdrawing his declaration that he would not return, the club's focus shifted to strengthening the team further, to enhance their prospects in European competition. They still had Mark Saiers, Martin Hall, Willie Cameron, Paul Philp and Paul Stimpson, while Ken Walton returned from ATS. To this already strong line-up they added two players who would be the focus of the row - Alan Baillie who was born Glasgow, but raised in North America, and Mel Bishop, born in British Columbia of British parents.

The prevailing view outside of Crystal Palace was probably best summed up by the article which appeared in the Team Fiat programme early in the season:

"The whole of the National League has seethed (the article actually said "settled", but I think that was a misprint) for the past three weeks, after the announcement that the Cinzano team would contain four American players in all domestic as well as European Competitions.

"This is complete and utter exploitation of the rules, which limit the use of foreign players per game to two, so the Champions have gone one better, and picked-up two extra aliens, with British passports, thus, on paper, playing a legitimate side.

"But what about the ethics of the game? The EBBA have tried desperately to convince the Londoners that they are not assisting, by disencouraging opposing clubs with their behaviour, and have met with no success.

"Cinzano are adamant that they are going to field a full strength squad in all of their NBL matches, as they have a commitment to their own beliefs that in order to secure sponsorship, they must succeed in Europe.

"In order to achieve this, the WHOLE squad must play together, as often as possible, and gain the match practice they need, by trouncing all the opposition England can muster.

"These are the blunt facts of the situation which has arisen from a loophole in the League rules with regard to players of dual nationality, and through the per­mission granted to Cinzano by FIBA’s president which in fact appears to be in breach of FIBA’s own regulations, which state the players of dual nationality shall be regarded as having the nationality of that country in which they reside or for which they hold a valid passport on their 19th birthday.

"The EBBA have decided not to close the loophole in our League rules for the current season (to the disadvantage of the 9 First Division teams who prefer to uphold the spirit of the rules) but are to consider an amendment for 1978-79.

"One thing is certain - Cinzano, hailed by most as the best British team ever, will lose a lot of friends by their actions and it is generally known that many clubs are very bitter about what has happened."

Pretty strong stuff - especially for a match programme, which is supposed to be uncontentious.

So, how were the other teams, with just a couple of foreign imports, shaping up?

Embassy Milton Keynes, with Peter Sprogis as secretary, were determined to improve on the previous year's worst-ever third place finish, and when Miles Aiken failed to agree terms for the new season they recruited Graham Nichols - a Canadian coach ... with, ironically, a British passport.

The big news, though, was the return of the old war-horse Steve Schmitt, who had played such a huge part in their previous successes, and his pairing with Allen Bunting, the scoring sensation from Metros. These two would certainly form an intimidating front-line.

In the back-court they still had the tried and tested pairing of Sprogis (who had also, of course, been raised in the States!) and Dave Shelley, while Steve Langdon, Stu Turpie, and Nigel Acres provided further continuity.

The increased depth at Palace enabled Embassy to recruit Walter Ededua, from the Cinzano bench.

ATS Giants had pipped Milton Keynes for the runners-up spot, and the big question was whether they could maintain that momentum.

Steve Latham's knee injury, picked up in April, ruled him out for the start of the season, and that would certainly hinder the Giants, and they lost Ken Walton to Palace, but they still had the core of the previous season's team, most notably Jeff Jones, Dick Powell, John Nono, and Al Malik Kaaba, .

New American Daryl Johnson was brought in, and he would have to shoulder the bulk of the work on the boards in Latham's absence, while Bob Park returned (from Strongarm), and Mel Eadsforth (Rochdale) and Norman Eastwood (Morley) were recruited.

Wilson Panthers Doncaster, looking for an injury free season from Brian Dunn looked to have the greatest stabilty, with fellow-American Wayne Metzger also returning.

John Belk was back after a year with Embassy, and the familiar roster included IanDay, John Redford, Keith Hawkswell, Keith Rae, Mike Davis, Ian Clark, and Chris Bycroft, with Yusef Hedar joining from leeds..

Team Fiat, Coventry had quickly established themselves among the leading teams in the League, and they were determined to continue to enhance that reputation.

Darnell Harrell was back, but this time with a new American partner, Fred "The Fly" Towns Jr.

Maintaining the continuity would be their strong English contingent of Steve Assinder, Robin Hall, John Dabrowski, Phil Hield, Jim Stinton and Neville Hopkins.

Another strong showing seemed likely.

Bowmer & Kirkland LAS had continued to confound the doubters by remaining competitive, but had now lost Richard Pearce, who had retired from playing, to concentrate on refereeing.

Having played at the top level Richard was uniquely placed to bring a player's perspective to officiating, and the career move proved to be a good one as he rapidly enhanced his reputation as one of the country's top referees.

Steve O'Shea stepped up from the Juniors, to attempt to fill the gap in Loughborough's playing ranks, and other young graduates included Winston Gordon and Paul Gervais.

Carl Olsson, Pete Siddall and Chris Worcester, however, seemed as though they would go on forever, and B&K were another team to go for stability, as American Kevin King returned, this time bringing with him compatriot Billy de Marle.

London YMCA Metros -had finally been able to move into the Central London YMCA facility, which was unique in being housed in the basement of the building.

Unfortunately the rest of their forward planning appears to have been somewhat lacking, and they had only two players signed by a fortnight before the start of the season! They did very nearly manage to complete their roster in time, but had to postpone their first match (against Crystal Palace) - as a result of which they began with the disadvantage of having had a point deducted before they'd even gained any.

Replacing Alan Bunting was obviously going to be quite a task, but the Metros seemed to have access to their own Stateside production line, as they brought in another prolific player in the same mould, Rick Mack.

Always prepared to try something different, Metros also brought in Israeli Junior International Sary ben Zvi, at point guard. They recruited Andy Sutherland from Embassy, Colin Gregg returned after injury, and his brother Geoff Gregg joined him from relegated Avenue.

Pete Turner, Mal Chamberlain and Nick Startin were back, with Jack Singer coming in as coach.

Vauxhall Motors had surprised many by succeeding in staying up after their first season in the top flight, but could they do it again?

The loss of Sherman Austin, who had moved on, would make it more difficult, and much would be asked of his replacement, John Walker, especially as fellow-American Ken Pemberton would now be combining coaching duties with his playing.

With the teams that had finished above them all being well established in the top flight, Vauxhall's hopes of continued survival would clearly hinge on the quality of the two promoted teams.

Stockport Belgrade looked to have the calibre to at least be competitive after the step up, with the return of key English players Phil Brazil, John Allerston and Geoff Linnell, with the wily Bill Beswick still as coach.

Stockport's two new Americans were Craig Lynch and Mark Newlen, with the former being another who was destined to make a prolonged and significant contribution to the game in this country.

St. Luke's TSB Exeter were embarking on their second stint in the top division, and so they, and experienced coach Vic Ambler, had a good idea of what was required of them. 

Top scorer Neil Whittam was still there, but would inevitably find the step up would make points harder to come by, but two new Americans had been recruited, in Robin Farris and Dale Tjarks, who would undoubtedly add to the team's competitiveness.

Their biggest asset, however, was their remote geographical location, which would mean that many opponents may arrive feeling travel weary ... but it was also their biggest liability, as they would find their own travel to away matches could takle its toll as the season progressed!

In short, it looked as though it would be another highly competitive season ... at least for all except the invincible-looking Cinzano SCP.

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