The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. The Rams compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Cowles Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as The Wheeler Motor Canterbury Rams.

Team history

The Canterbury Rams were a foundation member of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1982. Between 1986 and 1994, the Rams made the NBL final seven times, winning championships in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, 1989,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. Import players Kenny Perkins, Clyde Huntley, Eddie Anderson and Angelo Hill were central to the success of the Rams, as was the outstanding New Zealand core of John "Dutchie" Rademakers, Gilbert Gordon, Andy Bennett, Graham Timms, John Hill, Ian Webb,

Glen Denham Glen Ivan Denham (born 1963 or 1964) is a New Zealand former basketball player. He is of Māori descent. Early life Denham was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, the son of a teacher and butcher. His father was Australian and his mother was of Māor ...

and Ralph Lattimore. The architects of this success were coaches Garry Pettis, who led the team from 1986 to 1988, and Keith Mair, who took over in 1989. In 1999, the Rams made their eighth NBL final under coach Bert Knops, where they lost 79–72 to the Auckland Rebels. In 2000, Dr John Watson took over the Rams organisation from the cash-strapped Canterbury Basketball Association (CBA). His takeover of the team created some deep divisions within the basketball community. In 2006, the CBA signed a three-year management contract with Watson. In December 2008, after the CBA advised Watson that they would not be completing the third year of the contract, the Rams withdrew from the NBL, with the

Christchurch Cougars The Christchurch Cougars were a New Zealand basketball team based in Christchurch. The Cougars competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at Cowles Stadium. The Cougars pulled out of the NBL in 2011 after just ...

taking their place in the 2009 NBL season. The Cougars lasted just two seasons after withdrawing on the eve of the 2011 season due to the

Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

. In November 2013, the Canterbury Rams were granted re-entry into NBL under the leadership of Christchurch businessman Andrew Harrison, making their return during the 2014 NBL season. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, the Rams were regular season winners for the first time since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

behind the likes of McKenzie Moore and Marcel Jones. They made their first playoff appearance since

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, and as the first seed, they were aiming for their first NBL final since 1999. However, they went on to lose 104–85 to the Super City Rangers in the semi-finals despite a 35-point effort from Moore.

Honour roll

Players

Current roster

Notable past players

* Eddie Anderson * / Clifton Bush * Glen Dandridge *

* /

Richie Edwards Richie Edwards (born 25 September 1974) is an English musician. He is the former bassist of the British hard rock band The Darkness and the guitarist/vocalist of their successor band Stone Gods. He was confirmed as a member on 13 June 200 ...

Mickell Gladness Mickell Jawaun Gladness (born July 26, 1986) is an American professional basketball player, who last played for Arka Gdynia of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). Gladness grew up in Alabama, played college basketball for Lawson State Community Co ...

* Angelo Hill * Clyde Huntley * / Marcel Jones *

Jeremy Kendle Jeremy Paul Kendle (born March 15, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Southland Sharks of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He played three seasons of college basketball for Bellarmine University, becom ...

Jeremy Kench Jeremy Brian Kench (born 27 April 1984) is a New Zealand former professional basketball player who played 12 seasons in the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). Playing career Kench attended former powerhouse Christchurch basketbal ...

* / Terrence Lewis *

Damian Matacz Damian Richard Matacz (born 28 February 1979) is an Australian former professional basketball player who is most well known for his 18 seasons with the Joondalup Wolves in the State Basketball League (SBL). A former college player for Norther ...

* McKenzie Moore * Kenny Perkins * John Rademakers *

Matthew Rogers Matthew Wyatt "Matt" Rogers (born September 16, 1978) is an American television host and country singer. He was also one of the finalists on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series ''American Idol'', he became a televi ...

Ethan Rusbatch Ethan Rusbatch (born 24 May 1992) is a New Zealand basketball player for the Franklin Bulls of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He began his New Zealand NBL career in 2012 with the Southland Sharks after spending one season ...

* Jermaine Taylor * Reuben Te Rangi *

Dennis Trammell Dennis Trammell (born February 6, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at New Mexico University and Ball State University. At , he played shooting guard. In 2005, he signed with Union Athletic ...

* / Arthur Trousdell * Chris Tupu * Carlo Varicchio *

Marques Whippy Marques Reid Whippy (born February 5, 1986) is a Fijian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Brigham Young University in Hawaii before playing professionally in Spain, Australia, Chile and New Zealand. He has be ...

* John Whorton * Robert Wilson

Coaches

Head coaches

* Murray McKay (1981–1983) * Darrell Todd (1984–1985) * Garry Pettis (1986–1988) * Keith Mair (1989–1995) * Bert Knops (1996–1999) * Matt Ruscoe (2000–2001) * John Watson (2002–2004) * Pete McAllister (2004–2005) * Chris Sparks (2006–2007) * Bert Knops (2008) * Dave Harrison (2014) *

Mark Dickel Mark Robert Dickel (born 21 December 1976) is a New Zealand-Australian former professional basketball player and coach. Early years Dickel attended Logan Park High School in Dunedin, New Zealand. In 1993, he joined the Otago Nuggets of the New ...

(2015–2018) * Mick Downer (2019–2021) * Judd Flavell (2022–present)

Assistant coaches

* Darrell Todd (1981–1983) * Garry Pettis (1984–1985) * Bert Knops (1986–1995) * Phil Burns (1996–1999) * John Watson (2000–2001) * Darren Gravly (2000–2001) * Dave Harrison (2000–2001) * Pete McAllister (2002–2004; 2014) * Dene Robinson (2002–2005) * Clinton Olsen (2005) * Terry Brunel (2006–2008; 2019–2021) * Kenny Perkins (2007) * Tim Bennetts (2014)Canterbury Rams looking to build on comeback
/ref> * Caleb Harrison (2015) * Piet Van Hasselt (2015–2021) * Ben Sheat (2016–2018; 2022–present) * George Robinson (2021) * Liam Connelly (2022–present) * Adam Morgan (2022–present) Source
Canterbury Rams Facebook page

References

External links

Official team website
*
Andrew Harrison: the unassuming man behind the Canterbury Rams' NBL success
{{National Basketball League (New Zealand) Basketball teams in New Zealand National Basketball League (New Zealand) teams Sport in Christchurch Basketball teams established in 1981 1981 establishments in New Zealand