The 1998–99 BBL season was the 12th season of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

, known as the

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrelat ...

Basketball League for sponsorship reasons, since its establishment in 1987. The regular season commenced on September 12, 1998, and ended on April 4, 1999, with a total of 13 teams competing, playing 36 games each. The post-season Play-offs began on April 9 and culminated in the end-of-season finale on May 2 at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

. Start-up franchise Edinburgh Rocks became the League's newest member following their addition as the 14th franchise during the pre-season and the first Scottish team to appear in the top-flight since

Glasgow Rangers Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

' participation in the 1988–89 season. The League membership was reduced to 13 teams shortly after following the merger of the

London Towers London Towers were a professional basketball team based in London, England. They enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s and early 2000s, collecting 3 titles in the British Basketball League (BBL) as well as regularly competing in European c ...

and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

franchises, whilst another notable change was the uprooting of Watford Royals, who moved to the

Bletchley Centre The Bletchley Leisure Centre is an indoor leisure facility in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire#Ceremonial county, Buckinghamshire, England. The new Bletchley Leisure Centre opened in 2009 replacing the original centre. The original centre opened i ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

to become the

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead ...

Sheffield Sharks The Sheffield Sharks, currently known as "B.Braun Sheffield Sharks" for sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball team from the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The Sharks play in the British Basketball League and play thei ...

were a dominant force throughout the season, winning the Sainsbury's Classic Cola Cup whilst storming the Budweiser League and taking the Championship to complete the "Double". The campaign came down to a memorable final game where Sharks claimed the title from rivals

Manchester Giants The Manchester Giants are a British professional basketball team based in Manchester, England. The franchise was established in 2011, and admitted to the top-tier British Basketball League in 2012. The team's formation was led by a consortium ...

with the last shot of the game, winning 85–87 to take the crown. Their successful run fell short in the play-offs however, managing only a third-placed finish thus allowing a new-look London Towers to claim the title. Manchester Giants also ended a decade-long drought of silverware with their win in the uni-ball Trophy. No teams participated in European competition after

Birmingham Bullets The Birmingham Bullets were a British professional basketball team from Birmingham, England who competed in the British Basketball League (BBL). The club was founded in 1974 as Coventry Granwood before moving to Birmingham in 1980 as part of the ...

and Greater London Leopards both declined to compete in the

Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA E ...

Notable occurrences

* Edinburgh Rocks were officially announced as the League's newest franchise on 4 June 1998 – though the Rocks nickname was revealed at a later date – with former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player Jim Brandon signed as the team's head coach. * The

and

teams merged their organisations during the close-season, with the new franchise continuing to use the

branding and utilising the home venues of both clubs,

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and outdoor athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building which ...

and

for home games. * Watford Royals owner

Vince Macaulay Vince Tunde Macaulay-Razaq (born 23 March 1961) is a basketball coach who is the head coach and general manager of the Manchester Giants of the British Basketball League. A former player for Brixton TopCats, Tower Hamlets/London Towers and Hemel ...

announced on 19 June that he was moving the franchise to

due to a lack of suitable venues for home games in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, after plans for a new 3,000-capacity arena in Watford, to be built in partnership with

Watford F.C. Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...

, fell through. * The Budweiser League game between

Chester Jets The Cheshire Phoenix are a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, England. Founded in 1984, they are members of the British Basketball League and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena. From 1993 until 2015 the team was ...

and

Derby Storm Derby Storm was a former British Basketball League (BBL) franchise from the city of Derby, Derbyshire. The team took the decision to sit out the 2002–03 British Basketball League season, 2002–03 season after failing to find a suitable venue f ...

on 31 January 1999 was abandoned after 30 seconds due to a court invasion from both sets of players following a fight between Chester's Sean Hartley and Derby's

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

Yorick Williams Yorick Mortimer Williams (born 29 July 1975 in Manchester, England) is a British professional basketball player, and is currently playing for the Manchester Giants in the British Basketball League. He had a two season stint as player coach for ...

. Media reports claim it was the most serious incident in the history of competitive basketball in Britain. Four players were initially ejected from the game, including Williams and Hartley, whilst Chester physio Alison Troughtman was taken to hospital, suffering from a suspected broken-jaw. It was later announced that Williams was suspended for the remainder of the regular season, whilst Derby's Rico Alderson was banned until the following season. * The Southern All-Stars were victorious in the annual All-Star Game against their Northern rivals, with a 156–158 win at

Newcastle Arena The Utilita Arena Newcastle (formerly the Newcastle Arena, Telewest Arena and Metro Radio Arena) is a large indoor arena in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Owned and operated by ASM Global and sponsored by Utilita Energy, it hosts m ...

on February 27. Edinburgh's

Ted Berry Theodore Moody Berry (November 8, 1905 – October 15, 2000) is an American politician of the Charter Party of Cincinnati, Ohio and was the first African-American mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. Early life and education Born in poverty in Maysville, ...

was the game-high scorer with 29 points and was named as the games Most Valuable Player. *

claimed their first piece of silverware in franchise history after defeating Derby in the uni-ball Trophy Final on 13 March. Giants won 90–69, and the 21-point gap between the two teams was the biggest winning margin in the event's history. * Furthering their ongoing disciplinary issues, it was revealed in April that Derby Storm's American player Maurice Robinson was issued with a one-year suspension for failing to supply a complete urine sample during a Sports Council doping control test. * The Budweiser League came down to a memorable final game between title-chasing rivals

and Manchester Giants in-front of more than 11,000 fans at the

MEN Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...

. With both teams tied on points at the top of the League table, and tied at 85–85 with just 3.5 seconds left in the game,

Terrell Myers Terrell Myers (born August 28, 1974 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American professional basketball player. Terrell attended James Hillhouse after graduation then attended St. Thomas More Prep school in Waterbury, Connecticut, followed by Sain ...

took the pass and his 18 ft buzzer-beating jump-shot claimed the title for Sheffield. * London Towers were crowned as Budweiser League Play-off champions on 2 May, after defeating

Thames Valley Tigers Thames Valley Tigers was a British professional basketball team that competed in the British Basketball League (BBL) until 2005, when funding was ceased and the franchise folded. Based in Bracknell, Berkshire, the team's fans set up a new team to ...

82–71 at

. Towers' Malcolm Leak lead the game's scoring, posting 20 points. * Nottingham-based businessman Craig Bown purchased the

franchise at the end of the season for a reported six-figure sum.

Budweiser League Championship (Tier 1)

Final standings

The play-offs

Quarter-finals

(1) Sheffield Sharks vs. (8) Greater London Leopards (2) Manchester Giants vs. (7) Birmingham Bullets (3) London Towers vs. (5) Newcastle Eagles (4) Thames Valley Tigers vs. (6) Derby Storm

Semi-finals

Third-place game

Final

National League Division 1 (Tier 2)

Final standings

Champions by virtue of head-to-head record*

Playoffs

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

National League Division 2 (Tier 3)

Final standings

Playoffs

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

National League Division 3 (Tier 4)

Final standings

Playoffs

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final

Sainsbury's Classic Cola National Cup

Last 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

uni-ball Trophy

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Derby Storm vs. Leicester Riders Sheffield Sharks vs. Manchester Giants

Final

Dairylea Dunkers All-Star Game

Statistics leaders

Seasonal awards

* Most Valuable Player:

(

) * Coach of the Year: Chris Finch (

) * All-Star First Team: **

(

) ** John White (

) **

Tony Dorsey Anthony Jerald Dorsey (born July 15, 1970) is an American-born British former professional basketball player. He was born in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. At a height of 6'7" (2.01 m) tall, and a weight of 220 lbs. (100 kg), he played at ...

(

) ** John McCord (

) **

Nigel Lloyd Nigel ( ) is an English language, English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walte ...

(

) * All-Star Second Team: ** Tim Moore ( Greater London Leopards) ** Travis Conlan (

) ** Ralph Blalock (

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Playing in the top-tier British Basketball League and holding the franchise for Tyne & Wear, they are the most successful team in the League's histor ...

) ** Casey Arena (

) ** Danny Lewis (

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 British Basketball League season British Basketball League seasons 1

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...