The British Basketball League has gone from strength to strength over the last few years but it still sits below Europe’s elite competitions in terms of stature, and for the most part, standard of play. The league often accommodates top British talent, as well as gifted NCAA imports who didn’t quite make it to the NBA or the top tier of the European game, giving them the opportunity to play the game professionally. Facilities and funding vary throughout the league massively; 2015/2016 champions Leicester Riders recently opened a brand new, purpose built arena and the lowly Manchester Giants currently play on a court with badminton court markings visible. The league is heading in the right direction, turning itself into a strong product that is being showcased on several media platforms but still has some way to go to be considered a top European basketball competition.
Since formation in 1987, fans of the BBL have been provided with the opportunity to watch emerging talent and to witness a myriad of unique scenarios unfold; none more unique than when NBA champion and hall of famer Dennis Rodman appeared in Brighton to play for the now defunct, Brighton Bears.
“It was completely unexpected” COO of the BBL, Andy Webb told me. “It’s very unlikely that something like this will happen again.”
Rodman’s spell in Brighton came years before his madcap involvement in international diplomacy, as he appeared for the first time at The Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill against the Guildford Heat on January 28th 2006. The feeling within the club was one of excitement and it appeared that then head coach and owner, Nick Nurse was attempting to provide a shot in the arm to the British game.
Bears’ fans, casual basketball followers, and members of the public who were intrigued by the celebrity appearance filed into the main event hall of The Triangle, which, on paper, holds one thousand and five hundred people. For perspective, the court is situated nearby a multi-purpose fun pool, a fitness suite, and a competition pool.
As more and more bodies entered, it became apparent that the capacity may be exceeded, creating some logistical issues that some regular fans were not impressed by and eventually eighteen hundred people were allowed in. Many season ticket holders were moved to different seats to be able to accommodate others.
Despite the rabid anticipation in the air, some harboured questions regarding Rodman’s appearance from a business standpoint. The reported fee paid to him for his first game was £20,000, which is a lot of money to pay a retiree, only in the country due to an appearance on reality show – Celebrity Big Brother. It must have been reluctantly accepted by Brighton’s staff that Rodman would be considerably out of shape, considering his infamously turbulent post-career lifestyle and the previous weeks spent in the reality show residence.
“It was very difficult being in that house, just sitting around talking about this and that and smoking cigars” he told the BBC. “It’s been very difficult to get sleep the last few days, I’ve been busy and Stringfellows (gentlemen’s establishment) is the business”.
Rodman’s name came with a reputation that would attract public interest, but many considered it a risk that was not worth taking, with the club already in a poor state financially. On the night though, it was hard to consider a down side to seeing one of the greatest NBA forwards of all time playing in the South East of England.
When speaking to a former Brighton Bears volunteer, it became clear just how enlivened the local sports community were at the time. “The feeling around the club was one of excitement. People were really excited about Rodman coming in like this” the volunteer remembers.
“I think those of us in the know were concerned by how much was being spent to get him there but it was still very cool. The BBL has never been much of a media darling but in the lead up to this, it was suddenly in all the news, loads of people were buying tickets who had never been to a game before.”
In the build-up on game night, the regular squad members warmed up as usual, watched by the eyes of an abnormally large audience. Almost everyone in the crowd had their cameras poised, ready for the grand entrance of ‘The Worm.’ When he eventually jogged in after a half hour delay, followed by a scrum of local journalists and photographers, the forty four year old began stretching mid-court without acknowledging the rapturous applause. This moment was typical of Rodman, who has never shied away from spotlight but is famously hard to judge as a character. It was also representative of his overall stint in Brighton, as he arrived among fanfare but handled himself in a reserved manner.
As the first game got underway, some casual observers were underwhelmed, whilst keen basketball fans were impressed by Rodman’s performance. Not known for his scoring, Rodman showed some of his trademark hustle and rebounding prowess, which certainly didn’t leap off the stat sheet but provided onlookers with a glimpse of why Rodman was such an effective player on the world’s greatest stage. The former Chicago Bull scored four points and grabbed seven rebounds; statistics that some would not expect from a five time NBA champion playing in the BBL. The game ended in a 91-88 victory for Brighton, leaving a strangely bitter taste in the mouth of some whilst whetting the appetite for others. The performance led to an invite from the Bears for Rodman to play another game.
Rodman’s presence carried the potential to create discord between his Brighton teammates, who may have felt less valued, when they were more athletically able and closer to their prime than the former rebounding juggernaut. To accompany the financial gamble and the legal complications that followed, the move could have easily put a multicolour hair-dyed elephant in the changing room, affecting morale. There have been no reports of this kind of fallout but the leap of faith that Nurse took could have certainly driven chemistry into a downward spiral. For that reason, the question that needs to be asked is a simple one – why take this risk?
Nurse had bitten off more than he could chew according to some fans. He had taken many risks before, including an experiment that entered Brighton in the ULEB Eurocup in 2004; they were eliminated in the first round despite some gutsy performances against bigger clubs and left hugely stretched in terms of funding. According to many fans, inviting Rodman to play seemed like a similar risk with familiar pitfalls. Nurse was ambitious, if not blindly so. This ambition has taken him all the way to the NBA, where he currently serves as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors.
Despite his personal success since, many fans believe that Nurse was incapable of combining his coaching skills with business savvy decisions and that the move for Rodman was the beginning of the end for the club, who were forced to fold later in the year. Nurse was blunt about his desire to open some British eyes to the sport when speaking to the BBC. “We’re trying to shake you British people up a bit so you’ll come out and watch the game because we think it’s entertaining” Nurse insisted.
BBL’s Webb realizes the primary objective of the club when signing Rodman. “Brighton expected increased ticket sales for the games he played, as well as media interest and additional sponsorship”, Webb remembers, “They created national media interest in the league for the game that Rodman played”.
As the second home game for Brighton featuring Rodman drew closer, his appearance was starting to sink in for some of the staff. The Bear’s volunteer was endeared by Rodman’s general demeanour.
“Rodman was very laid back and actually quite down to earth. I only spoke to him a couple of times after the game. We all went to a bar in Brighton afterwards and just had a chat. I told him that it was good to see him play and that I’d always been a fan. He signed a copy of his book for me and I asked if he still wanted to play in the NBA; he said maybe, if he could ever get in good enough shape, which he obviously didn’t.”
On the 14th February 2006, Rodman played his second game for the Bears at a bigger Brighton venue, the Brighton Centre. This time, he filled the stat sheet in a way that he failed to make happen on his debut. Rodman was on the court for thirty eight minutes of the game, eating up twenty three rebounds. That kind of dominance on the glass was familiar to those that had followed his career but not common in the BBL. The former Pistons bad boy had justified some of the subjectively inflated price paid for his services. Rodman’s contribution was not enough though as the Newcastle Eagles came away from the Brighton Centre with a 85-75 victory.
Nurse left the game impressed by Rodman’s performance. “He was unbelievable against Newcastle with his 23 rebounds and playing 38 minutes. It has been unbelievable to me how quickly he fits in and how much he wants to learn. If we had a need on our team it would be for a great rebounder and defender; we just happened to bump into the best one that ever played the game.”
His final game for the Bears came the night after, taking a trip to Crystal Palace to face the London Towers. Rodman complained of knee issues but managed to get through twenty six minutes of playing time whilst the team overcame London in a 103-84 victory. Those twenty six minutes brought an end to his time on the court for Brighton, but left a positive impression of Rodman for his Brighton fans.
It had been a stint of ups and downs, with Rodman showing flashes of his greatness occasionally in spite of his physical condition. Now that the basketball had been played though, it was unclear exactly how his time in the BBL would be remembered and many were still unsure if the move had proven worthwhile.
The BBL helped those on the fence about the appearance makes their minds up just days after; they hit Brighton with a points deduction and a fine. The contentious inclusion came back to haunt the club due to Brighton’s failure to de-register one of their three work permit players when Rodman played in the first game against Guildford. The game was officially awarded to Guildford as a 20-0 win and the extra point taken from Brighton pushed them further down the league table of which they eventually finished in eighth place. The amount owed for the fine was kept in-house but the punishment brought vindication for those that doubted the decisions made by Nurse. The risk that Nurse had taken in order to boost the popularity of the British game was one that did not pay off for the club despite his unequivocal determination.
Perhaps the most staggering thing that Rodman said during his time in England was that he would like to return to the game’s highest level, as he had told the Bear’s volunteer before. Rodman was a middle aged athlete that had somewhat relied on his physical toughness for years and a return to the NBA did not seem like a realistic goal for the New Jersey native. The level of play in the BBL seemed appropriate for during that period of his career but perhaps the stage just was not grand enough for Rodman to accept that.
Basketball fans in the town of Brighton have been left club-less for around ten years now. Those that have campaigned to put the wheels in motion for a Bears return appear to be resigned to the idea that they may have to travel away from the city to see professional basketball live. Brighton basketball fans no longer have the convenience of regular basketball on their doorstep like many supporters around the world. Brighton fans no longer have bragging rights over any other basketball community and can no longer be seen competing in the BBL. They do however have some spectacular memories during their competitive tenure in the league. One story that they can always tell is the one about when one of the most recognized sportsmen of all time came to their local leisure centre.
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