Cheshire Jets | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
League | British Basketball League | |||
Established | 1984 | |||
History | Ellesmere Port Jets 1984-1988 Cheshire Jets 1988-1993 Chester Jets 1993-2007 Cheshire Jets 2007-present |
|||
Arena | Northgate Arena (Capacity: 1,300) |
|||
Location | Chester, Cheshire | |||
Head coach | Paul Smith | |||
Ownership | Unknown | |||
Colours | Black, Yellow and White | |||
Website | ||||
Uniforms | ||||
|
The Cheshire Jets are a British professional basketball team based in the city of Chester, in Cheshire, England. Formerly known as the Chester Jets, their home court is the Northgate Arena and they play in the top-tier British Basketball League.
Contents |
The team was first formed from the ruins of the Ellesmere Port team, the St Saviours in 1984. The team was initially named after their sponsors 'Motocraft Centre Ellesmere Port'. However, after the loss of their sponsor, they renamed themselves Ellesmere Port Jets.
The Jets were admitted to NBL Division 2 in 1986 and showed little sign of what was to come as they finished last in their first season, with just a single victory. Edging up to seventh in 1987-88, they then changed their name to Cheshire Jets, though still continuing to play in Ellesmere Port. They continued a steady mid-table development until, in 1991, they won the divisional title despite suffering five defeats. The same year, the Jets moved up into the BBL joining in with Britain's elite basketball teams. Later however, the arena in Ellesmere Port became unsuitable, and so in 1993 the Jets were forced to move to Chester, and into the Northgate Arena. The move was reflected in another name change to what is now the Chester Jets.
The real turning point for the Jets came in 1996, when the application of the Bosman ruling to basketball resulted in the departure of many of the top English players to European clubs, and the BBL changed its eligibility rule to entitle teams to use five non-national players.
Astute trans-Atlantic recruitment by coach and co-owner Mike Burton resulted in a highly competitive team, which finished fifth in the League table in 1997. They have remained highly competitive ever since, with best-ever performances in 2002 (Northern Conference Champions) and 2003 (3rd in the re-unified League), and a string of successes in the BBL trophy (4-times winners, from 2001 to 2004), culminating in the League Championship in 2005.
On April 7, 2007, prior to the Jets' season finale at home to Guildford Heat, an 81-102 defeat, club owner and head coach Mike Burton formally announced that he would be retiring from the franchise at the end of the 2006-07 season. Burton's announcement, after 19 years at the helm, raised serious doubts of the clubs' future,[1] with mounting debts and lack of financial backing. Shortly after the announcement, group of fans formed a committee to help save the club, while arranging several meetings and fund-raisers, the dedication and commitment publicly received the backing of players including Jets legend James Hamilton.[2] Following a sponsorship deal agreed during the summer of 2007 with local firm BiG Storage to save the club and preserve their future, the Jets was renamed as the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets to cover the wider demographic of Cheshire county as BiG Storage not only has branches in Chester but also other sites such as Warrington. When BiG Storage terminated the sponsorship, the managing director of the company arranged a successor sponsor; Cheshire West and Chester Council.
The Jets have expressed an interest in moving back to Ellesmere Port if plans to build a new £10.8m leisure centre in the town to replace the ageing EPIC centre get the go-ahead. The centre, which would be due for completion by 2014, would offer seating for 1,500 spectators, a welcome increase on the 1,000-capacity Northgate Arena.[3]
Season | Div. | Pos. | Pld. | W | L | Pts. | Play Offs | Trophy | Cup |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ellesmere Port Jets | |||||||||
1986–1987 | NBL 2 | 10th | 18 | 1 | 17 | 2 | DNQ | DNQ | 1st Round |
1987–1988 | NBL 1 | 7th | 18 | 7 | 11 | 14 | DNQ | DNQ | 2nd Round |
Cheshire Jets | |||||||||
1988–1989 | NBL 1 | 8th | 20 | 6 | 14 | 12 | DNQ | DNQ | 2nd Round |
1989–1990 | NBL 1 | 6th | 22 | 10 | 12 | 20 | Quarter-final | DNQ | 1st Round |
1990–1991 | NBL 1 | 1st | 22 | 17 | 5 | 34 | Quarter-final | DNQ | Quarter-final |
1991–1992 | BBL | 11th | 30 | 2 | 28 | 4 | DNQ | 1st Round | 3rd Round |
1992–1993 | BBL | 10th | 33 | 10 | 23 | 20 | DNQ | 1st Round | Quarter-final |
Chester Jets | |||||||||
1993–1994 | BBL | 11th | 36 | 11 | 25 | 22 | DNQ | 1st Round | Quarter-final |
1994–1995 | BBL | 12th | 36 | 6 | 30 | 12 | DNQ | 1st Round | Quarter-final |
1995–1996 | BBL | 12th | 36 | 8 | 28 | 16 | DNQ | Quarter-final | 4th Round |
1996–1997 | BBL | 5th | 36 | 24 | 12 | 48 | Semi-final | Runner-up | 4th Round |
1997–1998 | BBL | 10th | 36 | 15 | 21 | 30 | DNQ | 1st Round | 4th Round |
1998–1999 | BBL | 11th | 36 | 10 | 26 | 20 | DNQ | Quarter-final | Quarter-final |
1999–2000 | BBL N | 4th | 36 | 17 | 19 | 34 | Quarter-final | Quarter-final | 1st Round |
2000–2001 | BBL N | 2nd | 36 | 25 | 11 | 50 | Quarter-final | Winners | 1st Round |
2001–2002 | BBL N | 1st | 32 | 24 | 8 | 48 | Winners | Winners | Winners |
2002–2003 | BBL | 3rd | 40 | 28 | 12 | 56 | Quarter-final | Winners | Runner-up |
2003–2004 | BBL | 5th | 36 | 22 | 14 | 44 | Runner-up | Winners | 1st Round |
2004–2005 | BBL | 1st | 40 | 32 | 8 | 64 | Runner-up | Semi-final | Semi-final |
2005–2006 | BBL | 7th | 40 | 17 | 32 | 34 | Quarter-final | 1st Round | Semi-final |
2006–2007 | BBL | 9th | 36 | 10 | 26 | 20 | DNQ | Quarter-final | 1st Round |
Cheshire Jets | |||||||||
2007–2008 | BBL | 11th | 33 | 9 | 24 | 18 | DNQ | Semi-final | Quarter-final |
2008–2009 | BBL | 8th | 33 | 15 | 18 | 30 | Quarter-final | 1st Round | Quarter-final |
2009–2010 | BBL | 4th | 36 | 22 | 14 | 44 | Quarter-final | Runner-up | Runner-up |
2010–2011 | BBL | 4th | 33 | 20 | 13 | 40 | Semi-final | 1st Round | Semi-final |
2011–2012 | BBL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Roster • updated 2011-10-11 |
|