basketballscotland Annual Report
National Competitions
National Competitions structure in season 2012-13 saw our major events in a settled format with
the Play-Offs billed as the final domestic competition of the season with the Cup Finals once
again taking a place in early February. This format, along with the open draw in the Scottish Cup,
built excitement shortly after the Christmas break, which rolled into the Play-off season.
In the youth men’s competitions the expansion of Division 2 to include reserve or B sides was a major success and
helped to support Clubs in retaining players and offering them an appropriate level of competition. This saw the
National Youth Men’s Division 1 rise from 8 to 10 teams to mirror the Senior Men’s, and also saw the Division 2
leagues at both U16 and U18 increase to 10 teams.
The continuation of growth and development with Division 2 has seen Division 1 teams push harder to improve, to
ensure both their safety in Division 1 and the desire to get a good seeding during the play-offs. These factors,
coupled with improved coaching, due to regulations brought in to ensure coaches held a qualification, also ensured
games were competitive, even between the lower placed teams within the league. In total there were 784 fixtures
which took place over all levels and 29.7% of fixtures finished 20 points or less. Taking into account only the 434
National League Division 1 fixtures, this increases to 61%.
National events took place at Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley where the Scottish Cup Finals were
also supported by Renfrewshire Council.
The Youth play-offs were then played out on a seeded format at a central venue (The Peak, Stirling for the Quarter
Finals and Final Fours, and the Lagoon for the Finals). This event took place over three weekends, bringing together
basketball teams and their communities in an exciting surrounding, offering a valuable experience for all involved.
The Senior teams played a two legged affair on a home and away basis for the Quarter Finals and Semi Finals,
cumulating in a “winner takes all” one-off game at the Lagoon.
The Final event also included the Chairman’s Cup Finals and the return of the Wheelchair Basketball Scottish Cup
between Lothian Phoenix and West of Scotland Warriors. The event was a real success with various basketball
communities coming together at the end of the domestic season for a “Day of Basketball”.
During these events we successfully trialled online ticket sales with Club discounts available. This was a huge success
overall with increased ticket sales over the events, and a more accurate tracking system to review figures and
attendance. Improvements can be made but this provided a major marketing boost and a solid platform on which to
build.
The Women’s League had two newcomers as Tayside continued their growth and transitioned well from Under 16
and 18 women’s programmes to include seniors also. This transition was highlighted further as they made the final
of the Scottish Cup, having knocked out last year’s winners. The other new addition was Pentland Star who had, in
the previous season, won the Chairman’s Cup and gone unbeaten in their Regional League.
St Mirren Reid Kerr College Under 18 Women and Boroughmuir Under 16 Men completed a
“treble”, lifting the League, Cup and Play-off titles in one season.
39