Name

Leicester Riders

heart off icon (0 users)


Badge
team badge

Next Event (07 Dec)
calendar next Cheshire Phoenix vs Leicester Riders

Manager
None Found...


League Position


Recent League Form ➡


Established
1967 (58 years old)

Sport
Sport Icon Basketball

Venue
team thumb icon
Mattioli Arena

(3,000 Capacity)

Former Names


Equipment Clearart
no equipment thumb
Archive

Primary Colours

Location
Leicester, Leicestershire

Nicknames

Competitions
Super League Basketball

Last Edit
Ovokx: 06/Sep/23
Logo
team logo

Upcoming
tiny league badge icon 07 Dec Cheshire tiny home badge icon 5:30pm tiny away badge icon Leicester
tiny league badge icon 19 Dec Newcastle tiny home badge icon 7:30pm tiny away badge icon Leicester
tiny league badge icon 27 Dec Leicester tiny home badge icon 7:30pm tiny away badge icon London Li
tiny league badge icon 30 Dec Leicester tiny home badge icon 7:30pm tiny away badge icon Bristol F
tiny league badge icon 11 Jan Leicester tiny home badge icon 3:00pm tiny away badge icon Mancheste

Results
tiny league badge icon 21 Nov Leicester tiny home badge icon 85 - 79 tiny away badge icon Caledonia
tiny league badge icon 02 Nov London Li tiny home badge icon 82 - 70 tiny away badge icon Leicester
tiny league badge icon 31 Oct Leicester tiny home badge icon 95 - 93 tiny away badge icon Cheshire
tiny league badge icon 24 Oct Surrey 89 tiny home badge icon 78 - 80 tiny away badge icon Leicester
tiny league badge icon 17 Oct Leicester tiny home badge icon 91 - 77 tiny away badge icon Newcastle

Description british english flag icon Spanish flag icon
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.

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.


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.

After winning the treble in the 2016–17 and 2017–18 season, Leicester applied for the following Basketball Champions League season. This will mean the first European participation of a British team since Guildford Heat featured in the ULEB Cup in 2007.
wiki icon creative commons icon

Team Members


percentage bar = Player Contract years remaining

Showing 0 to 13 (Total: 13)




Trophies search icon


Collections
None found...


Fanart
no fanartno fanartno fanartno fanart

Banner transparent spacer team banner

Other Links
facebook icon
Facebook
x icon
Twitter
webpage icon
Website
instagram icon
Instagram
youtube icon
Youtube