Portsmouth club pushing to put basketball back at sporting forefront in the city following brief glory-laden spell under one-time Pompey chairman John Deacon in years gone by

With then-Pompey chairman John Deacon relocating the Telford Turbos top-flight team he acquired in 1985 to the city, fleeting success would soon follow for the newly branded side playing under the Portsmouth FC banner operating out of the Mountbatten Centre.

Just a few years after being set up, Deacon's city basketball start-up were back-to-back top-flight title winners in the 1986-87 and 87-88 seasons.

But after his decision to sell Pompey in May 1988, the basketball club would suffer as a consequence, before being wound up in April 1989.

Since then, Portsmouth basketball as a whole has been relatively underwhelming with various junior and senior set-ups being launched and operating under different guises across Portsea Island.

That is until now, though, and is largely down to a supporter sucked into the sport during those glory-laden years of the mid-80s eager for others to fall in love with basketball just as he did as a child.

Current Portsmouth Basketball Club chairman Rob Milner, 43, has overseen a monumental rise from what began as both himself and brother Tom Milner offering a helping hand coaching a girls team operating in isolation without any junior programme or real pathway within the city.

Now, following years of hard work and rapid growth, Rob - with the help of an army of volunteer coaches and close links with Admiral Lord Nelson School, Portsmouth College and the University of Portsmouth - has around 250 boy and girl players alone from the ages of three through to 16 under the club banner.

While there is also a senior team, with plans to broaden opportunities for prospective players moving forward and an U18s side to be launched from next season.

‘The basketball club (Portsmouth FC) disappeared to an extent (after Deacon stepped down as chairman) as a professional outfit,’ said Rob Milner.

‘In the 1980s at the Mountbatten Centre, we used to have 1,000 people, I was seven or eight when I used to go - I caught the bug when I was really, really small.

‘The players at the club at the time were British stars, and big American stars were coming to play in Portsmouth.

‘There’s always been this underlying relationship with basketball in Portsmouth that has kind of not been tapped into.

‘Since the 80s, there hasn’t been this solid, core infrastructure. There have been navy teams along the way, there’s been a team called Portsmouth Smugglers which Mick (Byrne, Portsmouth City club president) was involved in.

‘This is why infrastructure is so key to build us up to be one-club, like Worthing Thunder, like Team Solent Kestrels, to be a hub of basketball, basically.

‘I don’t think there should be any major town in England that hasn’t got a basketball set up, it should be comparable to football, in a way, it’s so accessible, so easy, it’s so cheap.’

With a solid junior programme foundation put in place and a pool of around 15 volunteer coaches ensuring the club continue to move from strength to strength, the plan is to really push on and make basketball a big sporting player within Portsmouth once again.

Last season, both boys under-14 and under-16s sides were entered into the regional national leagues - another hugely significant step for all involved.

The under-16 boys team even managed to finish top of the National League South 2 standings before coming up short in the end -of-season play-offs.

But that appears just the start in the club's quest to become a force once more on the British stage, with both U14 and U16 sides entering national leagues again next season, while U12 and a newly-formed U18 boys team are also set to participate in regional England Basketball divisions, along with a girls age group contingent which is currently yet to be finalised.

Milner continued: ‘The whole idea is to get the infrastructure. Primarily, it will always be focused at youth basketball, but we’d love the senior section to take off. At the moment, the reason we want this senior section, so we’ve got the link with the University of Portsmouth and we’ve got something for kids to aspire to.

‘Kids only want to play football because they want to play in the Premier League. If kids don’t know basketball exists, they’re not going to go and pick up a ball. Outside of football, there’s not an easier sport to pick up and play, if you’re a 10-year-old.

The Portsmouth club will also be entering a senior team from the city into a regional national league for the first time in more than a decade from next season. That group will be led by lecturer and University of Portsmouth basketball head coach, Daniel Fatomide.

Playing home matches out of the swanky new University of Portsmouth Ravelin Sports Centre facility – which the club’s age group sides will also alternating using as well as using Admiral Lord Nelson School’s facilities – the hope is the club's flourishing junior section can be shown there is a realistic pathway to play on the national stage without having to leave the comfort of their home city.

‘The club’s belief is that the product of having a senior programme will be the inspiration of having more kids to play,’ added Rob Milner.

‘To have a pathway you have to have something for the kids to aspire to. I would love to have five-year-olds turning up at Ravelin Sports Centre, turning up to see the senior team play, get the bug - they could potentially go from our club to Portsmouth College, University of Portsmouth, then into the senior team.’

Yet branching out into the regional national leagues comes with an added financial burden. That is why the club are seeking to attract some sponsorship backing in order to enhance club growth, while not putting too much monetary strain on the volunteers currently involved with the set up.

Milner concluded: ‘It’s going to be the first time in over a decade (Portsmouth have had a senior National League team).

‘There may have been people dipping their hand in under the Portsmouth broad banner in that time but, for a long, long time, this is going to be the first National League basketball side (from within the city).

‘It’s going to be partnered with University of Portsmouth and hosted at the Ravelin Sports Centre, which is the new all-singing, all-dancing new sports hall.

‘Each section of the club is self-funding, so that’s how we’ll be working. For the senior men’s National League side, we’ll be looking at around about £10,000-a-year, just to run the basketball club - that may even be understated - that’s to cover referee fees, travel to away games, match officials, hall hire. That’s without paying any coaches because everyone is volunteering.’

Anyone interested in supporting Portsmouth City Basketball Club can contact [email protected]