England Basketball history

The original peach baskets gave way in 1892 to a cylindrical basket of heavy woven wire; this gave the way the following year to a goal made of an iron rim and a cord basket.

In June 1894 Mel Rideout, a participant in the first game at Springfield College, introduced the game at a YMCA Convention held in England.

In these early years of the development of Basketball the dribble was not a feature of the game and only in 1898 was a clause included in the Men’s rules concerning the dribble.

Birkenhead initiative remained a local development until 1911 when a YMCA instructor brought basketball to Birmingham YMCA, and a team was produced.

Most of these Associations found the same difficulty of complication in the American Rules and in 1912 the Birmingham Association Rules of Basketball were accepted throughout most of England with some slight differences in rules according to particular conditions.

In 1918 an American YMCA Physical Director the popularity of basketball grew more, the local rules was altered and the game became more like the American game.

The London Central YMCA were reigning National YMCA Champions this championship having been established in 1922.

George Williams of London presented a cup to the ABBA, as Senior Championship Cup and the first tournament for the cup was staged in Birmingham on 6th June 1936.

Hoylake YMCA in October of 1937 represented England in the Tournament at a Paris Competition – the first International team to play for England.

Junior games were played extensively and in 1938 ABBA organised on similar lines to the Senior Championships a National Junior Championship of England and Wales.

In February 1939 a London National League was started involving 6 teams playing in a League Competition at Haringey Arena.

A championship Final began in April 1940 with the Birmingham Athletic Institute and had beaten London Central YMCA in the final competition.

In 2010, the senior men once again booked their spot at the EuroBasket Final Round and there was a double cause for celebration, as the senior women’s team grabbed their own slice of history when they qualified for the Final Round of EuroBasket Women.

In line with the agreement with FIBA, October 2016 saw the individual membership of FIBA by the Home Country Associations come to an end and the British Basketball Federation became the registered National Governing Body of the sport with FIBA.

In 2018 the GB Men had mixed results in their World Cup Qualification round and failed to win a place in the next round.

2019 The GB Women seeded 7th, face Spain, Ukraine and joint hosts Latvia in Riga, in their Eurobasket 2019 Finals Group, commencing on the 27th June, The top two going onto the knock out stages of the event.

The teams that finish in the top six automatically qualify for the European places in the Pre Olympic Qualifications events scheduled for 2020.