Roderick Wellington also known as "The Duke" (born in

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) was a British professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player, and played for the

Leicester Riders Leicester Riders are a British professional basketball team and the oldest club in the British Basketball League (BBL). Established in 1967, the club have played in various locations around Leicestershire before moving to their current purpose- ...

in 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 ...

amongst others. The 6 ft 5in tall Forward was educated at Marjon College, based in Plymouth and it was here where he started his professional basketball career with the

Plymouth Raiders The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition. The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two lo ...

in 2000, then a National Basketball League team, having previously played for lower league club Sutton Pumas. After enjoying four very successful years with the Raiders, Roderick made the jump to the top-level British Basketball League with teammate

Dean Williams Dean Williams may refer to: * Dean Williams (squash player) (born 1956), retired squash player from Australia * Dean Williams (footballer, born 1970), English football striker * Dean Williams (footballer, born 1972), English football goalkeeper * ...

, both of whom joined the

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 ...

in 2004, the same year that the Raiders also made the jump to the BBL. After one season with the Tigers, the club folded and through the efforts of local fans a new club was set up to replace them, the Guildford Heat, of which Rod was a part of the first roster of the new club. At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, after failing to sort out a contract with the Heat, Wellington signed for

English Basketball League The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 4 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish ...

(second-tier) team

Worthing Thunder The Worthing Thunder are an English professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). Founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels after the Worthing Bears had relocated to Bri ...

where he played for two months, before re-signing with the Heat in November 2006. Wellington enjoyed an immensely successful second season with the Heat, helping the team on the road to

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral c ...

victory and the BBL League Championship. Ensuring he would 'go out at the top', Rod made the "long and difficult" decision to retire during the summer of 2007, only to revert his choice several months later to sign a contract with BBL veterans

. Roderick is now retired from Basketball and lives back in the South of England.

Career history

Professional career

*2007-08

*2006-07 Guildford Heat *2006

*2005-06 Guildford Heat *2004-05

*2000-04

*1999-00 Sutton Pumas

International career

(7 caps)

References

1978 births Living people Surrey Scorchers players English men's basketball players Plymouth Raiders players Leicester Riders players Basketball players from Greater London Forwards (basketball) Alumni of Plymouth Marjon University People from Tooting Sportspeople from the London Borough of Wandsworth British Basketball League players {{UK-basketball-bio-stub