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Portsmouth FC Basketball Club were a British professional basketball team based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, that played in the top league of UK basketball from 1985-88. They won the league championship in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons and also reached four major cup finals, including those of all three main domestic knockout competitions in 1987-88. Virtually all home games were played at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, which had bleacher seating on either side plus a balcony around one end and one side. Part of the side balcony was reserved for directors and guests. Two matches in 1986-87 and two in 1984-85 were hosted by Havant Leisure Centre (eight miles away), one in 1984-85 by Fleming Park Leisure Centre in Eastleigh (23 miles) and one in 1984-85 by Winchester Recreation Centre (30 miles). ==Formation and 1984-85 season== The club was created when Portsmouth Football Club chairman John Deacon, having failed in a 9 January 1985 bid〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://solentstars.blogspot.com/2008/11/solent-stars-198485-season.html )〕 to buy Eastleigh-based Solent Stars, instead bought another top division club, Telford Turbos, on 16 January 〔The News, Portsmouth, 16 January 1985 'Basketball club takeover: Pompey chief nets Telford'〕and moved it to Portsmouth midway through the 1984-85 season. For an undisclosed sum, Deacon acquired a range of basketball equipment, nine players - Dave Treasure, Steve Nelson, Pat Morrison, Marty Headd (later replaced by Mike Owen), Ian Pollard, Lee Irwin, Dave Harris, Julian Taithe and Dale Shackleford〔The News, Portsmouth, 11 February 1985 'New boss shrugs off debut defeat: Watch us go next season, says Deacon'〕- and the franchise of a club lying bottom of the table after losing all of its 13 league matches up until that point. With no relegation 〔The News, Portsmouth, 17 January 1985 'Transfer dash for Turbos'〕 planned from the top division that season, he did not plan an extensive revamp of the team, but he did recruit Danny Palmer as coach on 17 January. In the longer term the club, officially known as Portsmouth FC Basketball Club but simply 'Portsmouth' for promotional purposes, would have its office and players' base at Portsmouth FC's Fratton Park stadium, and use the Mountbatten Centre as its regular home court. But to begin with the players remained based in the Midlands and football club secretary Bill Davis was handed the responsibility of finding dates and venues for the team's eight remaining home games.〔The News, Portsmouth, 25 January 1985 'Home sweet home at Havant'〕 Their first appearance under the Portsmouth FC banner was an away game on 19 January at Solent, 〔 who had gone to Telford earlier in the season and beaten them 123-87 〔 in a match played in a former aircraft hangar. This time a near capacity crowd at Fleming Park saw Portsmouth open an 11-point lead in the first half. Solent came back to lead 50-48 at half-time but midway through the second half Portsmouth led 73-72, before a final burst from the home side gave them a 106-91 victory. Americans Headd (32 points) and Shackleford (24 points) top scored for Portsmouth, while 17-year-old Nelson began a Portsmouth career that would ultimately last as long as the club.〔The News, Portsmouth, 21 January 1985 'The Turbos run out of steam〕 A burst pipe which delayed work on the Mountbatten Centre's main sports hall floor meant Portsmouth were back at Fleming Park on 26 January, this time for a 'home' clash with league leaders Kingston Kings. Admission prices were set at £2.50 for adults and £1 for juniors.〔The News, Portsmouth, 23 January 1985 'Turbos first home match away'〕 Portsmouth had to borrow Kingston's red kit as they only had a white strip available and league rules at the time insisted that away teams wore white.〔The News, Portsmouth, 28 January 1985 'Deacon finds no consolation'〕 The court was less than half full of spectators and the match did little to create an atmosphere, with Portsmouth trailing 20-8 after five minutes and 51-34 at half-time before finally losing 115-72.〔 Again the Americans led the scoring, Shackleford netting 31 points and Owen 22, with nobody else in double figures for Portsmouth. A 91-79 defeat at Doncaster Panthers〔The News, Portsmouth, 5 February 1985 'Bad run goes on'〕 followed before the team made their Mountbatten Centre debut against Hemel & Watford Royals on 10 February, with one side of the bleachers used. Portsmouth led 23-19 midway through the first half but trailed 56-38 by the interval and eventually lost 104-79. Shackleford and Owen hit 25 and 24 points respectively, while future Portsmouth star Mike Spaid scored 17 for Hemel. Bill Davis completed his fixture-fixing task on 12 February, giving Portsmouth four different venues for their first four home games by arranging for the Manchester United match to take place at Winchester Recreation Centre.〔The News, Portsmouth, 13 February 1985 'Famous names on court'〕 Four days later Danny Palmer signed a two-year contract, with his coaching role to become full-time in April 1985.〔The News, Portsmouth, 16 February 1985 'Battle of the bottom'〕 The trip to Leicester Riders on 16 February ended in a 109-85 loss, but Portsmouth's first appearance at Havant Leisure Centre the following day offered the chance to climb off the foot of the table, if they could beat Bolton & Bury Hawks - who had one win to their name, against the former Turbos - by more than their margin of defeat at Bolton.〔The News, Portsmouth, 18 February 1985 'Dale drives Portsmouth to victory at long last'〕 Again the match was played with seating on only one side of the court, and the initial part-time nature of Palmer's coaching role was illustrated by his absence from the arena as he was already committed to commentating on another game for Channel 4 television that day,〔The News, Portsmouth, 22 February 1985 'Portsmouth brought back down to earth'〕 but the players defied the low-key nature of the occasion to grab the opportunity. They blasted into a 12-0 lead in the first three minutes, extended this to 21-5 midway through the first half and went in at the interval with a 42-25 advantage. After the break Treasure and Harris fouled out, and when Irwin dislocated an elbow Portsmouth were down to just six players. But they refused to let Bolton back into the game and secured their first victory at the sixth attempt, the 84-68 scoreline also proving enough to move them off the bottom. Owen scored 23 points, Shackleford 15 and Pollard 11. The euphoria did not survive the trip to Winchester, where Portsmouth lost 96-67 to Manchester United. Shackleford hit 26 for the hosts while another future Portsmouth player, Colin Irish, netted 18 for United. Portsmouth then had a third glimpse of their future in their next away game, with Alan Cunningham starring for the Worthing Bears as they beat Portsmouth 99-87 despite another 32 points from Shackleford.〔The News, Portsmouth, 25 February 1985 'Dale burst all in vain'〕 A crowd of 300 attended the next home game, an 82-77 defeat by Bracknell Pirates at Havant in which Shackleford added another 38 points to his tally. Danny Palmer then made his first signing in preparation for the 1985-86 season, recruiting guard Joel Moore from Brixton Topcats.〔The News, Portsmouth, 4 March 1985 'Giant problem for strugglers'〕 Four matches remained in the last nine days of the season for this first group of Portsmouth players, three at the Mountbatten Centre sandwiching a Thursday night trip to Manchester Giants.〔The News, Portsmouth, 8 March 1985 'So near, yet so far...'〕 John Deacon, who joined the team on the bench for the home game with Sunderland Maestros, acknowledged that most of them would not be around the following season due to the club's higher ambitions but was delighted with their attitude and performances in their short time wearing Portsmouth vests.〔The News, Portsmouth, 9 March 1985 'Tatham threat to Portsmouth hopes'〕〔The News, Portsmouth, 11 March 1985 'Deacon ready for new era'〕 They began this final burst of games on 2 March at home to Crystal Palace. Trailing 54-45 at the interval, Portsmouth tied the second half to eventually lose 103-94, with Shackleford hitting 39 and Owen 24. The following day they ran Sunderland even closer, just 43-41 behind at half-time and briefly ahead 76-73 as the match neared its climax. Shackleford surpassed all his previous efforts by scoring 44 points, but Sunderland had a six-point lead before Treasure sank a three-pointer on the buzzer to narrow their margin of victory to 88-85. Shackleford scored another 33 at Manchester Giants, who beat Portsmouth 80-73, before the curtain came down at home to Birmingham Bullets on 10 March. A fourth future Portsmouth player, Karl Tatham, appeared against them, scoring 12 points, but the day was all about whether the departing players could record a second victory to say farewell. At half-time it was a possibility, with Portsmouth only down 42-36, but Birmingham extended their lead to 21 points before a late home surge took the final score to 86-79 in the visitors' favour. Owen scored 23 points but for the final time it was the Dale Shackleford show, as Portsmouth's star American defied five stitches in a hand to sign off with 36. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Portsmouth F.C. (basketball)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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