Solent Stars - The History



Basketball is one of the world's major sports and, yet, in England the game only has minority status. As such, the public's awareness of the basketball teams, coaches, players and administrators is limited.

This website is a small step taken to redress the balance for the thousands of spectators, players, coaches and officials who have contributed to the account of the Solent Stars Basketball club.

Our story starts with the vision of one man, Harry Smith. He had earlier funded a Solent women's team to play on the national scene before assembling a men's team to join Division Two of the National League in the 1980-81 season.

From then on the story of the club is one of a rollercoaster ride from national champions and European contenders to falling from Division One to regional Division Four in 1990. Subsequently, Solent Stars rose again to become Division One league winners at the end of the 1998-99 season. Along the way there have been many dramas, personalities and incidents. In the following web pages you will find accounts of all of these events including descriptions of over 900 games played during that period.

I dedicate this website to all those who have been involved - in whatever capacity - with Solent Stars Basketball Club.

Jim Rumsey


The website contains the following sections.

Seasons - Detailed accounts of each season, containing photographs when available. This is a comprehensive review of approximately 120,000 words.

Players - A list of all the players that are known to have played for the Senior Men's First Team and a list of the Player of the Year Awards

Coaches - A list of all the coaches with win / loss records

Statistics - Player statistics for a number of seasons

League Tables - A full set of league tables which show at which level Solent were competing each season

Trophies - All major trophies won by the club

Images - Programme covers and some programme articles. A selection of team photos. Some action photos.

Articles - Articles about or by members of the Solent Stars club

Support - Information regarding the Supporters Club, mascot and fans

Women - a brief overview of the women's team

Youth - a brief overview of the early days of the youth programme

Book - details of the book written by Jim Rumsey in 2007

1 comment:

Zag said...

We are keeping a record of all the defunct basketball teams around the world here. Solent Stars made it. Hopefully we can find or draw a good quality logo at some point.

https://www.thesportsdb.com/team/136382