Leicester Riders

Leicester Riders
Leicester Riders logo
League	British Basketball League
Established	1967
History	Loughborough All-Stars 1967–1981 Leicester All-Stars 1981–1986 Leicester City Riders 1986–1997 Leicester Riders 1997–present
Arena	Sir David Wallace Centre (Capacity: 1,000)
Location	Leicester, Leicestershire
Team colours	Red, White and Black
Main sponsor	Jelson Homes
Head coach	Rob Paternostro
Website	LeicesterRiders.co.uk
Uniforms
Home Away

The Leicester Riders, officially known as the Jelson Homes 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,

Franchise history

Founded on 26 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 Riders were founded by students and lecturers at Loughborough University in April 1967 and were known as the Loughborough All Stars. They were founder members of the National Basketball League in 1972, and the British Basketball League in 1987, and are the oldest club in British basketball operating at the top flight.

The club moved from Loughborough to Leicester in 1981, backed by Leicester City Council and Leicester City Bus (hence the change in nickname to "Riders"), before moving back to play at Loughborough University in 2000, following the closure of Granby Halls, at a new venue barely a stone's throw from Victory Hall where the club played its first game.

File:LeicesterRidersLogo.png

Logo used from 2004 until 2013

In 2004 the Riders agreed a sponsorship deal with De Montfort University (DMU) and moved back to Leicester, where they played their games at the DMU's John Sandford Sports Centre.

Following a difficult period for the Club financially between 2005 and 2007, former director of the team, Mike Steptoe, and the supporters club formed a consortium which raised enough money to keep the side running. Then local business Jelson Homes stepped forward to sponsor the Club and the appointment of general manager Russell Levenston began a turning point for the club. Part of the sponsorship deal with Jelson Homes was to ensure the future of the club by investing in 'basketball in the community' schemes, providing the youth of Leicester with basketball coaching programmes, such as the "Shoot to the Future" programme, run with the support of the Police.

Riders also now have an extensive youth programme for boys and girls, a Women’s team near the top of England Basketball’s Division One, one of the country’s largest Basketball Apprentice schemes at Charnwood College, and a partnership with Loughborough University, led by the Great Britain men’s captain Drew Sullivan, and which includes a GB Futures player, Jamell Anderson, two Great Britain Under 20 men’s internationals and two Great Britain Under 20 women’s internationals, as well as a number of boys and girls in England Under age international teams. Membership in the Club is expected to reach nearly 1,500 this season. The Club’s community programmes reach nearly 15,000 young people in the City and County.

The Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders secured the BBL Cup in thrilling fashion as they defeated the Newcastle Eagles 80–85 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on 13 January 2012, in front of a bumper 7,500 crowd, and live on Sky TV, their first piece of silverware since they won the Cup and the Playoff finals in 2001.

Home arenas

John Sanfdord Sport Centre, former home of the Leicester Riders.

Victory Hall (1967–1981)

Granby Halls (1981–2000)

Sir David Wallace Centre (2000–2004)

John Sandford Centre (2004–2014)

Sir David Wallace Centre (2014–present)

Leicester community sports area (planned from 2015, construction started January 2015)

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	Semi-final
1974–1975	NBL	7th	18	8	10	26	N/A	N/A	Semi-final
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	5th	18	9	9	18	N/A	N/A	Quarter-final
1978–1979	NBL 1	6th	20	10	10	18	DNQ	N/A	Quarter-final
1979–1980	NBL 1	6th	20	10	10	18	DNQ	N/A	Semi-final
1980–1981	Hiatus	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Leicester All-Stars
1981–1982	NBL 2	1st	16	16	0	32	DNQ	N/A	-
1982–1983	NBL 1	6th	24	16	8	32	DNQ	N/A	-
1983–1984	NBL 1	6th	36	23	13	45	DNQ	N/A	-
1984–1985	NBL 1	6th	26	15	11	30	Semi-final	N/A	-
1985–1986	NBL 1	8th	28	14	14	28	-	N/A	-
Leicester City Riders
1986–1987	NBL 1	5th	24	16	8	32	-	N/A	-
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
2007–2008	BBL	10th	33	10	23	20	DNQ	1st Round	Quarter-final
2008–2009	BBL	3rd	33	21	12	42	Semi-final	1st Round	Quarter-final
2009–2010	BBL	6th	36	21	15	42	Quarter-final	1st Round	Semi-final
2010–2011	BBL	8th	33	17	16	34	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Quarter-final
2011–2012	BBL	2nd	30	22	8	44	Runner-up	1st Round	Semi-final
2012–2013	BBL	1st	33	30	3	60	Winners	Runner-up	Winners

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 following information is 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).

Leicester Riders roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. G 4 Bernardini, Tyler 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) PG 5 Watson, Neil 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) F 8 Sullivan, Andrew 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) F 9 Walker, Shane 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) G 10 Maynard, Will 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) G 11 Noel, Levi 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) F 12 Gamble, Harrison 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) PG 13 Washington, Connor 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) C 15 Lamble, Barry (C) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) F 21 Anderson, Jamell 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) F 22 May-Thompson, Raheem 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) F 33 Rowe, Anthony 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) F 42 Wright, TrayVonn 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) C 50 Gruis, Trevor 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	Head coach Rob Paternostro Assistant coach(es) Philip Gleadell Mark Jarram Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 14th January 2016

Notable former players

David Aliu 1 season: '06–'07 Andy Betts 1 season: '93–'94 Karl Brown 5 seasons: '99–'03 Steve Bucknall 2 seasons: '05–'07 Mark Hawley 2 seasons: '97–'99 Dave Jones 2 seasons: '00–'02 Robert Youngblood Carl Roland Olsson Steve O'Shea Nate Reinking 1 season: '06–'07 Billy Singleton 4 seasons: '97–'99, '00–'02 Aaron Westbrooks

Andrew Alleyne 1 season: '06–'07 Chris Webber 3 seasons: '98–'99, '02–'04 Shawn Myers 1 season: '06–'07 Marty Headd Lonnie Legette Steve McGlothin 3 seasons: '00–'02, '04–'05 Anthony McHenry 1 season: '05–'06 Kenny Pemberton Tony Windless 3 seasons: '08–'11 Brad Wierzbicki / Ryan Zamroz 1 season: '10–'11

External links

• Official Leicester Riders website
• Leicester Riders on Twitter
• Riders Ball Online, an unofficial fans' website