English National Cup (basketball)

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. For most of the competition's history, the draw has featured the elite of English basketball, but teams from the British Basketball League currently do not compete in the National Cup, as they compete in their own separate competition, the BBL Cup.

The final is usually played midway through the season, at a neutral venue. The winners of the tournament are awarded the George Williams Trophy, which is named for the man who donated the original cup.

History

The competition was originally launched as the A.B.B.A. National Championship in 1936, and was the first attempt by the Amateur Basketball Ball Association (A.B.B.A.) to develop an annual national basketball championship in England and Wales. The National Championship was initially structured as an end-of-season event to allow regional champions to compete against their peers from across England and Wales. It was governed by the Amateur Basket Ball Association (A.B.B.A.), a forerunner of the current Basketball England organisation. During World War II, the competition was put on hiatus; the last pre-war winners, Birmingham Athletic Institute, retained the trophy for the duration of the hostilities.

Following the introduction of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1972, the cup began a gradual decline in its influence on the English game as alternative national competitions became more established. The introduction of the NBL's own end-of-season playoffs in 1979 resulted in the competition being restructured into a season-long knockout tournament similar to football's FA Cup, with the competition renamed the National Cup to avoid confusion with the league championship. This structure continued through the introduction of the independent, franchise-based British Basketball League in 1987, though the cup was eventually truncated to a 16-team event for 1998 onwards, with the clubs holding a BBL franchise being joined by the top teams from the previous year's NBL Division 1 standings. This change in format came at the same time as the BBC began showing live coverage of the semi-finals and final.

In 2003, the governance and competition structure of basketball in England underwent a period of reinvention, which included rebranding the NBL as the English Basketball League and introducing new rules governing the use of import players across all Basketball England competitions. These changes led to conflict with the British Basketball League, which withdrew the support of all top-flight clubs and started their own breakaway competition. The withdrawal of the top-flight clubs led to the National Cup returning to a more open structure, with teams able to enter from all divisions of the NBL. This format largely remains to this day, with small variations in organisation during the early rounds.

Format

The current competition structure is a knockout tournament with pairings drawn completely at random – there are no seeds, with the draw for all the rounds up to and including the quarter-final taking place in May.

When there are an uneven number of clubs in the draw, some pre-selected teams will receive byes into the next round. In some seasons the number of entries has required a preliminary round.

Past winners

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Venue	Result
1935-1936	Hoylake YMCA	London Polytechnic	Birmingham	32 – 21
1936-1937	Hoylake YMCA	Latter Day Saints	Liverpool	23 – 17
1937-1938	Catford Saints	Rochdale Greys	Wembley Arena	61 – 47
1938-1939	Catford Saints	Rochdale Greys	London Arena	53 – 41
1939-1940	Birmingham Athletic Institute	Central YMCA	London Arena	35 – 30
1941–1946	No competition
1946-1947	Carpathians	Birmingham Dolobran	Birmingham	48 – 25
1947-1948	Latter Day Saints	Latvian Society	Barking	39 – 30
1948-1949	Latter Day Saints	Birmingham Dolobran	Leicester	44 – 35
1949-1950	Latter Day Saints	USAF Burtonwood	Nottingham	43 – 32
1950-1951	Birmingham Dolobran	London Polytechnic	Nottingham	34 – 33
1951-1952	London Polytechnic	Birmingham Dolobran	Wembley Arena	40 – 29
1952-1953	London Polytechnic	Birmingham Dolobran	Manchester	55 – 46
1953-1954	London Polytechnic	Nottingham YMCA	Birmingham	98 – 53
1954-1955	London Polytechnic	Birmingham Dolobran	London Arena	58 – 54
1955-1956	Oxford University	Hoddesdon	London Arena	75 – 59
1956-1957	Central YMCA	London Polytechnic	London Arena	63 – 51
1957-1958	Central YMCA	East Ham	London Arena	48 – 40
1958-1959	Aspley OB	Birmingham Dolobran	Leicester	58 – 39
1959-1960	Central YMCA	London Polytechnic	Birmingham	95 – 62
1960-1961	London University	Central YMCA	South Ruislip	68 – 59
1961-1962	Central YMCA	RAE Eagles	South Ruislip	87 – 47
1962-1963	Central YMCA	London University	Royal Albert Hall	70 – 69
1963-1964	Central YMCA	London University	Royal Albert Hall	78 – 56
1964-1965	Aldershot Warriors	Oxford University	Crystal Palace	79 – 63
1965-1966	Oxford University	Aldershot Warriors	Crystal Palace	91 – 70
1966-1967	Central YMCA	Vauxhall Motors	Crystal Palace	64 – 62
1967-1968	Oxford University	Aldershot Warriors	Crystal Palace	61 – 59
1968-1969	Central YMCA	Aldershot Warriors	Crystal Palace	70 – 62
1969-1970	Liverpool Police	Oxford University	Crystal Palace	73 – 67
1970-1971	Manchester University	Sutton	Crystal Palace	88 – 81
1971-1972	Avenue	Cambridge	Crystal Palace	78 – 66
1972-1973	London Latvian SK	Sutton	Crystal Palace	70 – 69
1973-1974	Sutton & Crystal Palace	Embassy All Stars	Crystal Palace	120 – 100
1974-1975	Embassy All Stars	Sutton & Crystal Palace	Wembley Arena	82 – 81
1975-1976	Crystal Palace	Embassy All Stars	Wembley Arena	108 – 88
1976-1977	Crystal Palace	Embassy All Stars	Wembley Arena	91 – 90
1977-1978	Crystal Palace	Team Fiat Coventry	Wembley Arena	89 – 87
1978-1979	Doncaster Panthers	Crystal Palace	Sheffield Arena	73 – 71
1979-1980	Crystal Palace	Doncaster Panthers	Sheffield Arena	97 – 67
1980-1981	Crystal Palace	Doncaster Panthers	Coventry	91 – 74
1981-1982	Solent Stars	Doncaster Panthers	Leicester	127 – 91
1982-1983	Solent Stars	Birmingham Bullets	Leicester	98 – 97
1983-1984	Solent Stars	Leicester Riders	Royal Albert Hall	86 – 67
1984-1985	Kingston Kings	Manchester United	Royal Albert Hall	103 – 98
1985-1986	Kingston Kings	Solent Stars	Royal Albert Hall	113 – 82
1986-1987	Kingston Kings	Portsmouth	Royal Albert Hall	95 – 87
1987-1988	Kingston Kings	Portsmouth	Royal Albert Hall	90 – 84
1988-1989	Bracknell Tigers	Manchester Eagles	London Arena	87 – 75
1989-1990	Kingston Kings	Sunderland Saints	London Arena	103 – 78
1990-1991	Sunderland Saints	Leicester Riders	London Arena	88 – 81
1991-1992	Kingston Kings	Thames Valley Tigers	Sheffield Arena	90 – 71
1992-1993	Guildford Kings	Worthing Bears	Doncaster	82 – 72
1993-1994	Worthing Bears	Thames Valley Tigers	Sheffield Arena	92 – 83
1994-1995	Sheffield Sharks	Thames Valley Tigers	Sheffield Arena	89 – 66
1995-1996	London Towers	Sheffield Sharks	Sheffield Arena	70 – 58
1996-1997	London Leopards	Sheffield Sharks	Sheffield Arena	87 – 79
1997-1998	Thames Valley Tigers	Leicester Riders	Sheffield Arena	82 – 78
1998-1999	Sheffield Sharks	London Leopards	Sheffield Arena	67 – 65
1999-2000	Sheffield Sharks	Manchester Giants	Sheffield Arena	89 – 80
2000-2001	Leicester Riders	London Leopards	Sheffield Arena	84 – 80
2001-2002	Chester Jets	Birmingham Bullets	Sheffield Arena	112–105
2002-2003	Brighton Bears	Chester Jets	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham	89 – 79
2003-2004	Plymouth Raiders	Teesside Mohawks	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	89 – 82
2004-2005	Reading Rockets	City of Sheffield Arrows	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham	76 – 75
2005-2006	Essex & Herts Leopards	Reading Rockets	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham	79 – 75
2006-2007	Manchester Magic	Worthing Thunder	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham	85 – 80
2007-2008	Manchester Magic	Worthing Thunder	Moorways Centre, Derby	104 – 89
2008-2009	Reading Rockets	Manchester Magic	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	74 – 68
2009-2010	Bristol Academy Flyers	Manchester Magic	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	63 – 61 (OT)
2010-2011	Brixton TopCats	Bristol Academy Flyers	Ponds Forge, Sheffield	77 – 63
2011-2012	London Leopards	Bristol Academy Flyers	Ponds Forge, Sheffield	64 – 63
2012-2013	Leeds Carnegie	Bristol Academy Flyers	Ponds Forge, Sheffield	66 – 64
2013-2014	Reading Rockets	Newham Neptunes	Worcester Arena, Worcester	93 – 72
2014-2015	Manchester Magic	Reading Rockets	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	76 – 58
2015-2016	Manchester Magic	Worthing Thunder	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	97 – 84
2016-2017	Team Northumbria	Solent Kestrels	Worcester Arena, Worcester	73 – 56
2017-2018	Hemel Storm	Manchester Magic	UEL SportsDock	94 – 77
2018-2019	Loughborough Riders	Solent Kestrels	University of Essex Arena, Colchester	82 – 63
2019-2020	Solent Kestrels	Reading Rockets	University of Essex Arena, Colchester	90 - 67
2020-2021	No competition
2021-2022	Solent Kestrels	Team Newcastle	National Basketball Centre, Manchester	109 - 66
2022-2023	Hemel Storm	Derby Trailblazers	National Basketball Centre, Manchester	102 - 81
2023-2024	Milton Keynes Breakers	Reading Rockets	National Basketball Centre, Manchester	95 - 85