LEICESTER RIDERS

The 'Leicester Riders', officially known as the 'Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders' for sponsorship reasons, is a British professional basketball team that play in the British Basketball League (BBL). They are the oldest operating basketball team in the country, though recently they have hit hard times financially and faced liquidation several times during 2007 before fans and local businesses stepped in to save the club.

Contents

Franchise history

Home arenas

Season-by-season records

Players

Current roster

Squad changes during 2006/07 season

Notable former players

External links

Franchise history

Founded on 26th April 1967 and then known as the Loughborough All Stars, the Leicester Riders are the oldest club in British basketball.
They were founder members of the National Basketball League in 1972 and the BBL in 1987.
The club moved from Loughborough to Leicester in 1981 before moving back to play at Loughborough University in 1997, barely a stone's throw from Victory Hall where the club played its first game.
In 2004 the Riders agreed a sponsorship deal with De Montfort University and moved back to Leicester. The Riders now play their games at the DMU's John Sanford Sports Centre.
In February 2007, the Riders encountered several financial difficulties, which resulted in the team's players and coaches not being payed. Facing the prospect of liquidation half way through the 2006-2007 season, former director of the team, Mike Steptoe, and the supporters club formed a consortium which raised funded enough money to keep the side running.
The clubs future was looking brighter, however, during the close-season following the loss of a major cash-injection, the club were again thrown into financial chaos in August 2007. Given only three weeks to raise the neccesary funds to compete for the upcoming 2007-08 season, fans of the club and local business Jelson Homes came together to save the club once again. [1]
Part of the sponsorship deal with Jelson Homes was to ensure the future of the club by investing in a 'basketball in the community' scheme, providing the youth of Leicester with basketball coaching programmes.

Home arenas

:Victory Hall (1967-1981)
:Granby Halls (1981-1997)
:Loughborough University (1997-2004)
:De Montfort University (2004-present)

Season-by-season records

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pld.	W	L	Pts.	Play Offs	Trophy	Cup
'Loughborough All-Stars'
1972-1973	'NBL'	4th	10	5	5	15	N/A	N/A	1st Round
1973-1974	'NBL'	6th	14	5	9	19	N/A	N/A	-
1974-1975	'NBL'	7th	18	8	10	26	N/A	N/A	-
1975-1976	'NBL 1'	6th	18	6	12	24	N/A	N/A	Quarter-final
1976-1977	'NBL 1'	6th	18	8	10	26	N/A	N/A	Quarter-final
1977-1978	'NBL 1'	-	-	-	-	-	N/A	N/A	Quarter-final
'Leicester City Riders'
1987-1988	'BBL'	9th	28	14	14	28	DNQ	1st Round	Semi-final
1988-1989	'BBL'	4h	20	14	6	28	Semi-final	Semi-final	2nd Round
1989-1990	'BBL'	6th	28	7	21	14	DNQ	1st Round	2nd Round
1990-1991	'BBL'	4th	24	14	10	28	Semi-final	Semi-final	Runner-up
1991-1992	'BBL'	6th	30	14	16	28	Quarter-final	Runner-up	Semi-final
1992-1993	'BBL'	8th	33	12	21	24	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Semi-final
1993-1994	'BBL'	7th	36	20	16	40	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Quarter-final
1994-1995	'BBL'	11th	36	8	28	16	DNQ	1st Round	Quarter-final
1995-1996	'BBL'	9th	36	11	25	22	DNQ	1st Round	4th Round
1996-1997	'BBL'	8th	36	15	21	30	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Quarter-final
'Leicester Riders'
1997-1998	'BBL'	9th	36	15	21	30	DNQ	Quarter-final	Runner-up
1998-1999	'BBL'	12th	36	9	27	18	DNQ	Semi-final	1st Round
1999-2000	'BBL N'	7th	36	10	26	20	DNQ	1st Round	Quarter-final
2000-2001	'BBL N'	4th	36	17	19	34	Winners	1st Round	Winners
2001-2002	'BBL N'	5th	32	11	21	22	DNQ	1st Round	1st Round
2002-2003	'BBL'	11th	40	3	37	6	DNQ	1st Round	1st Round
2003-2004	'BBL'	9th	36	5	31	10	DNQ	1st Round	Quarter Final
2004-2005	'BBL'	10th	40	11	29	22	DNQ	1st Round	1st Round
2005-2006	'BBL'	6th	40	18	22	36	Quarter-final	Runner-up	1st Round
2006-2007	'BBL'	7th	36	13	23	22	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Quarter-final

'Notes:'

★ From 1999-2002 the BBL operated a Conference system. Leicester competed in the Northern Conference.

★ DNQ denotes Did Not Qualify.

Players

Current roster

''The numbers are established according to the official websites of the team (www.leicesterriders.co.uk) and Britain's top professional league, the BBL (www.bbl.org.uk).''
''As of March 24 2007''

4		Rob Paternostro	Guard
5		Yorrick Williams	Guard
6		Adam Williams	Guard
7		Terrence McGee	Guard
8		Delme Herriman	Guard/Forward
9		Darren Mills	Forward
10		Carl Pearson	Guard
12		Barry Lamble	Centre
13		Andrew Alleyne	Forward/Centre

Squad changes during 2006/07 season

'In:'

★ 'Rob Paternostro' - Signed 'From' ''Birmingham Bullets''

★ 'Yorrick Williams' - Signed 'From' ''Birmingham Bullets''

★ 'Adam Williams' - Signed 'From' ''Birmingham Bullets''

★ 'Terrence McGee' - Signed 'From' ''Brighton Bears''

★ 'Delme Herriman' - Signed 'From' ''Manchester Magic''

★ 'David Aliu' - Signed 'From' ''Hamar Selfoss''

★ 'Barry Lamble' - Signed 'From' ''Birmingham Bullets''

★ 'Andrew Alleyne' - Signed 'From' ''Brighton Bears''

★ 'Shawn Myers' - Signed 'From' ''Chester Jets''
'Out:'

★ 'Marcus Knight' - Transferred 'To' '' London United''

★ 'Anthony McHenry' - Transferred 'To' ''Fort Worth Flyers''

★ 'Joel Burns' - Transferred 'To' ''Sheffield Sharks''

★ 'Cameron Wright' - Tranferred 'To' ''Worcester Wolves''

★ 'Steve Bucknall' - Tranferred 'To' ''Released''

★ 'David Aliu' - Tranferred 'To' ''Released''

★ 'Shawn Myers' - Tranferred 'To' ''Released''

Notable former players

★ Karl Brown

★ Steve Bucknall

★ Joel Burns

★ Mark Hawley

★ Dave Jones

★ Steve McGlothin

★ Anthony McHenry

★ Shawn Myers

★ Nate Reinking

★ Billy Singleton

★ Chris Webber

★ Robert Youngblood

External links

★ Official Leicester Riders website

★ Leicester Riders on MySpace

★ Riders Ball Online - Unofficial website