The oldest operating basketball team in the country, Leicester Riders, have been going from strength to strength these past few years. Champions of the British Basketball League two years in a row fending off basketball giants Newcastle Eagles, and then last season beating them in the playoff final.
It really has been a good few years for head coach Rob Paternostro and his players, but there is still lots that people don’t know about the prestigious club and their long history.
History of Leicester Riders
Ironically the Leicester Riders’ history began in Loughborough as several students and lecturers set up the Loughborough All-Stars in 1967. The Loughborough All-Stars was one of the founding members of the National Basketball League in 1972 and played in this league until a hiatus in the 1979-1980 season and the 1980-1981 season.
During this period the Leicester City Council and Leicester City Bus Company backed Loughborough All-Stars to move to Leicester which they did playing under the name Leicester All-Stars.
Before the change to the British Basketball League in 1987, the Leicester All-Stars changed their name to the Leicester City Riders (Based on their link to Leicester City Bus Company) this was eventually shortened to the Leicester Riders.
Current Era
Despite now being the oldest basketball team and one of the founders of the British Basketball League, Leicester Riders have never had much success in the British Basket League until they hired Rob Paternostrol in the 2008-2009 season.
Within his first season, he got the Leicester Riders to 3rd place in the league, the highest they had ever achieved in the top flight and he won BBL Coach of the Year for that season, the first time a Leicester Riders’ Coach had won this award.
He kept taking the club from strength to strength and finally they won the League in the 2012-13 season as well as the playoffs and the cup. Since then they have remained one of the top teams in the league winning it again in 2015-16 season and 2016-17 season.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Leicester Riders making last seasons League and Playoff win all the much sweeter for the fans, coaches, and players of the Leicester Riders.
Leicester Riders and Snizl
This October Snizl has announced a partnership with Leicester Riders, As part of this deal Snizl will market the team’s ticket sales and merchandise and Leicester Riders will market Snizl to the other UK based basketball teams and their fans.
The partnership with Leicester Riders will be officially launched on 28 October 2017 at their BBL cup game at the Leicester Arena. Team Captain and Ticket Manager Tyler Bernardini stated:
‘We are really excited about our partnership with Snizl. As the Leicester Riders Ticket manager, we are always looking to develop partnerships with leaders and innovators in the industry. Snizl provides an innovative and unique platform to help develop our marketing outreach.’’
Snizl is creating partnerships and recruiting sales agents UK wide and have recently held training days for new recruits. The recruitment process is continuing and the company still have vacancies for agents.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Richard Carey at 07951 551518 or email at [email protected]
