The 1987–88 BBL season was the first season of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball sports league, league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The orga ...

(known as the

Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

League for sponsorship reasons), a breakaway competition formed by teams from the

English National League The English National League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1935 by most of the teams who had previously competed in the English League (ice hockey), English League. It was suspended during the Second World War, but ...

and the Scottish National League. The season featured a total of 15 teams, playing 28 games each.

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, reigning champions of the English League claimed the regular season title with a dominating campaign led by the likes of

Alan Cunningham Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham, (1 May 1887 – 30 January 1983), was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army noted for his victories over Italian forces in the East African Campaign (World War II), East African Campaign duri ...

and Colin Irish. They weren't able to repeat their success in the post-season play-off's as third-seed Livingston, the reigning Scottish champions, caused a huge upset with an 81–72 win over Portsmouth in the final.BBL Media Guide 2003/04, page 15 Kingston won their fourth consecutive

National Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

and Livingston claimed the inaugural BBL Trophy. In the National League (the tier below the Carlsberg League) the

Worthing Bears Brighton Bears were a British basketball team based in Brighton, Sussex. From 1984 to 1999 the club was known as the Worthing Bears and was based in the town of Worthing, 12 miles west of Brighton. The Bears played in the top-flight British Bas ...

won the league with a 100% (18–0) record and in the play-off semi-final Billy Hungrecker scored a record 73 points in a 119–110 overtime win over

Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. Founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs, ...

, before defeating

Brixton TopCats Brixton TopCats is a British basketball club based in the Brixton area of London. Established in 1985, the Men's first team currently compete in the National Basketball League Division 2, and the Women's team compete in the Women's British Bas ...

in the final.

Carlsberg League (Tier 1)

Final standings

Carlsberg League playoffs

Playoffs

Quarter-finals

(1) Portsmouth vs. (8) Solent Stars (2) Kingston vs. (7) Birmingham Bullets (3) Livingston vs. (6) Bracknell Tigers (4) Manchester United vs. (5) Calderdale Explorers

Semi-finals

Final

National League (Tier 2)

Final standings

Prudential National Cup

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

NatWest Trophy

Group stage

North Group 1

North Group 2

South Group 1

South Group 2

Semi-finals

Calderdale Explorers vs. Livingston Kingston vs. Portsmouth

Final

Seasonal awards

* Most Valuable Player: Daryl Thomas ( Hemel & Watford Royals) * Coach of the Year:

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

(

Calderdale Explorers The Calderdale Explorers are an English basketball club, based in Halifax, West Yorkshire. The Explorers compete in English Basketball League Division 3 North. A previous incarnation of the club was a founding member of the British Basketball ...

) * All-Star Team: ** Steve Bontrager (

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

) **

( Portsmouth F.C.) ** Dan Davis (

) ** Vic Flemming ( Livingston) ** Marcus Gaither (

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 ...

) ** Colin Irish ( Portsmouth F.C.) **

(

) ** Phil Smith (

Solent Stars The Solent Stars were a basketball club from Southampton, who were one of the founder members of the British Basketball League, where they competed from 1987 to 1990. For the rest of their existence, the club competed in the English Basketball ...

) ** Daryl Thomas ( Hemel & Watford Royals) **

Clyde Vaughan Clyde Vaughan (born in Mount Vernon, New York, United States) is a basketball coach and former professional player, who enjoyed a distinguished career at college level and professional level and international level for the England men's national ...

( Leicester City Riders)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...