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Portsmouth FC Basketball Club

Portsmouth FC Basketball Club was a professional basketball team based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, which played in the top league of UK basketball from 1985-88. The club won the league championship in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons. It also reached four major cup finals, including those of all three domestic knockout competitions in 1987-88. Virtually all home games were played at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, with a handful hosted by Havant Leisure Centre eight miles away. The Mountbatten Centre court had bleacher seating on either side, with a balcony around three sides. One side was reserved for directors and guests, with the rest open to the public.

Formation

The club was created in January 1985 when Portsmouth Football Club chairman John Deacon bought the top division Telford Turbos franchise and moved it to Portsmouth midway through the 1984-85 season. With no threat of relegation Deacon allowed the existing players to complete the campaign, eventually finishing second from bottom.

Major investment

Deacon recruited Danny Palmer as coach during the summer of 1985 and provided the budget to bring a host of star players to the south coast. Steve Nelson and Dave Harris remained from the original Turbos squad. Players recruited were Alan Cunningham, Colin Irish, Larry Dassie, Trevor Anderson, Kalpatrick Wells, Dan Lloyd, Joel Moore, Joe White, Kenny Stancell and Andrew Bailey.

1985-86 Season

The new Portsmouth line-up, with an all-blue first choice strip and all-white change colours, played on a green roll-out carpet court at the Mountbatten Centre during 1985-86. They made a tremendous start to the season, winning their first 17 matches, including 11 in the league. The first match was a 96-91 home National Cup win over Crystal Palace on September 20th 1985, followed by their first league game two nights later, an 83-68 home victory over local rivals Solent Stars.

On October 23rd Portsmouth went to the Tolworth Recreation Centre in Surrey and beat league champions Kingston Kings 99-86. It was the first instalment of a fierce battle for supremacy between these teams which defined Portsmouth's period in the UK game. The easy 65-mile drive up and down the A3 also meant large away followings for both clubs in these matches.

Interest was rising among the Portsmouth public and on November 9th the 72-71 home win over Manchester United - another team owned by a football club - was watched by 1,064 people.

But player problems began to affect the team. Stancell was released and Moore suffered serious eye injuries in a road accident. Kingston denied them a trip to the Royal Albert Hall in London with a comprehensive victory in the National Cup semi-final, and three days before Christmas mid-table Hemel & Watford Royals pulled off a shock 82-79 league win at the Mountbatten Centre.

Another Sunday home defeat to a club not considered a threat followed on January 12th 1986, Leicester Riders pipping Portsmouth 114-113, but they pulled out four victories in eight days to set up what was expected to be a title decider at home to Kingston on February 5th.

A crowd of 1,511 crammed into the Mountbatten Centre, standing three deep on the balcony. Led by a 34-point performance from Colin Irish, Portsmouth built up a 58-44 advantage by half-time. But Kingston, inspired by the three-point shooting of Steve Bontrager, hit 72 points in the second half to lead 116-114.

Irish was fouled on the final buzzer, and under the rules at the time it fell into the category of offences punishable by a 'one and one', in which scoring the first free throw entitled the player to a second. Irish missed the first and the match was over - but ultimately Manchester United overhauled both sides to win the league, Portsmouth finishing third.

American Jose Slaughter had been brought in to fill the gap at guard after Moore's injury, which meant Portsmouth had now signed too many overseas players for Alan Cunningham to continue playing that season. When Danny Palmer resigned, Cunningham took on a caretaker coach role for the remainder of the campaign.

Portsmouth played sixth placed Birmingham Bullets in the National Championship - commonly known as the playoffs - quarter-finals, and having opened with a 92-86 away win they had two chances at home to secure the best-of-three series and a trip to Wembley Arena for the 'final four' weekend on March 21st and 22nd. But 85-93 and 91-95 defeats ended their hopes and left Portsmouth with just the British Masters trophy to play for.

The British Masters began early in the season, Portsmouth beating lower division sides Caercastell and Plymouth away in the opening rounds. Victory at home to Bracknell Pirates at the end of October took them into the second qualifying stage in March, when they won 82-74 at Hemel & Watford and finished the job with a 101-99 success in the second leg. That brought a quarter-final with Crystal Palace, and expectations were raised by a 108-107 win at the National Sports Centre. But again it went wrong at home, and a 106-118 defeat brought a premature end to Portsmouth's season on March 26th 1986.

1986-87 Season

The carpet, the original kits and the caretaker coach had all gone by the time action resumed six months later, as had many of the team. Slaughter, Dassie, Anderson, Wells, Bailey and Harris all departed, while Lloyd took on a player-coach role. New faces were Americans Lawrence Held and Danny Williams, plus Eddie Fontaine, Mike Spaid, Karl Tatham and Michael Hayles.

The new team began with a 94-87 home win over Leicester Riders on September 20th 1986, but they suffered a setback at home to Kingston a week later. Nelson missed a free throw with the scores tied at 93 at the end of the game, and the visitors pulled away to win 106-97 in overtime.

Eleven league wins in a row kept them well in contention for the title but the run ended with an 89-74 defeat in the return game at Leicester on January 9th 1987.

Six more wins followed before another decisive clash with Kingston at Tolworth on February 11th. Portsmouth needed to win by at least ten points to win the 'head to head' contest with Kingston and move to the top of the league. Irish hit two three-pointers in the opening seconds and Portsmouth ran out 106-88 winners.

The title was confirmed when Cunningham made a lay-up with two seconds left to secure a 90-88 victory away to Hemel & Watford at the Dacorum Leisure Centre in Hemel Hempstead on February 18th.

The trophy was presented after the final home game two nights later, an 85-90 defeat by Manchester United. All the seating tickets were sold in advance and the balcony began to fill up two hours before tip-off.

Third place in the league in 1985-86 had given Portsmouth a place in the Korac Cup, and their first venture into European competition brought a 96-76 home win over Yugoslavian side Sibenka on October 1st 1986. The return a week later ended in an 89-62 defeat and a seven-point loss on aggregate.

They went much further in the National Cup, a home win over second tier side Lambeth Topcats (121-81) and a comfortable success at Hemel & Watford (127-99) taking them to a 'final four' semi-final day at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in Birmingham on November 30th. Portsmouth squeezed past Calderdale Explorers 82-78 to set up a final against holders Kingston at the Royal Albert Hall, watched by a crowd of 4,200 on December 15th. Irish missed the game with a leg injury and Kingston prevailed 95-87.

After clinching first place in the league Portsmouth wrapped up their playoff quarter-final with eighth placed Hemel & Watford in two games, and turned their attention to the British Masters while waiting for Wembley weekend. Birmingham and Derby Rams were eliminated to set up yet another meeting with Kingston in the semi-final. As the two-legged tie was decided on aggregate it needed two periods of overtime before the sides could be separated in the second leg at the Mountbatten Centre on March 25th, Kingston eventually winning that game 135-133.

Portsmouth played BCP London in the first playoff semi-final at Wembley Arena on April 3rd, and fell to a 106-102 defeat against a BCP side inspired by Argentinian star Julio Politi. They earned some consolation the following day by beating Manchester United 99-89 in the third place match.

An 'International All Star' tournament was held at the Mountbatten Centre on December 29th and 30th, featuring Portsmouth, Solent, Sao Paulo from Brazil and the Australian Institute of Sport. The English clubs met in the final, with Portsmouth winning 103-95.

Larry Dassie, who had left Portsmouth just a few months before, died in a road accident in December 1986. As a tribute to him, and to raise some money for his family, the Larry Dassie Testimonial Match was held at the Mountbatten Centre on April 12th 1987. The players of Portsmouth and Kingston suspended hostilities for the evening and formed two mixed teams who produced a 114-114 tie.

To come - 1987-88 Season, A Sudden End, Aftermath and Statistics.