Unbeaten Portsmouth Force call on city's support as it faces a huge three weeks in NBL promotion race

Portsmouth Force have won their five opening games in the National Basketball League Division Three, as they look achieve promotion in their third year of competing at the senior national level.

The next three weeks will prove crucial to their endeavour as they face Bath, Surrey 89ers, and Plymouth Raiders in successive weekends at the Ravelin Sports Centre in Portsmouth. The run of games starts with Bath on Saturday, November 30 at 6.30pm.

The Force’s chairman, Rob Milner, highlighted the importance of the next phase of the season, describing it as the biggest run of basketball games in Portsmouth in over 30 years.

He said: “It’s the biggest period of home basketball in Portsmouth for decades. The next three weeks could be the difference for us getting Division Two basketball, which we have not had since the 80s.

“To have three games in a row is unusual but it’s a great opportunity to build momentum because we should be winning all our home games if we want to go up as champions.”

The 1980s was a golden period for basketball in Portsmouth, with the city’s team owned at the time by the then Portsmouth FC owner, John Deacon. In successive season’s between 1986 and 1988 Portsmouth were top-flight title champions. However, when Deacon sold Pompey in 1988, it led to the basketball club being wound up just a year later.

Portsmouth Force are one of the best supported teams in the division bringing in over 400 fans to their home games. It is a big step up in quality to Division Two basketball but the foundations are there for the club to be successful.

This year, Basketball England awarded them Community Club of the Year for the southern region as their youth set up continues to grow, now including sessions for SEN children. There is also now a defined pathway for youth players to get into the senior men’s team after the Force collaborated with City of Portsmouth College to provide a new Level 3 BTEC Elite Basketball course.

While progress continues off the court, the game day fan experience is also improving. Saturday (November 30) will see the debut of dance group Faded as they entertain the crowds at half time. It is all part of the plan to create a great atmosphere and encourage more people to come to the games.

Rob knows how important it is for the team to have a good crowd behind them. He said: “The crowd makes a huge difference, it’s similar to Pompey really. When the crowd get behind the team everyone seems to up their levels and when the crowd is bouncing the energy in Ravelin is incredible.”

Head coach, Daniel Fatomide agrees: “The crowd make a huge difference, there’s a cliched saying that they’re the sixth man but it absolutely is true. The guys feed off the energy from the crowd. Sometimes when we are playing away, and there is 30 to 50 people there, it can be a struggle to get going as we are used to having 400 people behind us giving that energy.”

Daniel has been the coach of the Force since their first season in NBL Division 3. Having narrowly missed out on promotion in the previous two years, he is keen to make sure the players don’t get complacent after their electric start and just focus on improving in their next session and next game.

Daniel is expecting the upcoming home schedule to be tough. Bath are a team the Force have never played before, while Surrey handed Portsmouth a narrow defeat in pre-season, and Plymouth Raiders are a team with a similar support base. Daniel is hoping his players will put on a show for the fans.

He said: “We try and do our best to support and represent the city as best we can. We appreciate the support, effort, and hard-earned money that people put towards watching us play at the Ravelin Sports Centre. A big thank you on behalf of myself, the coaching staff, and the players for your support.”

Tip off for the home games is 6.30pm and tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite.