OUR CLUB
Pleasance Basketball Club is Edinburgh's oldest basketball club, founded in 1947.
We have a team in Scottish Basketball League 2, one in Lothian Basketball League 1, one in League 2, and an over-40s Masters team in Lothian League 3.
Please get in touch with us if you would like to come and join one of our sessions, we are a friendly bunch. Contact us on Facebook or through [email protected]
THE HISTORY
PLEASANCE BASKETBALL CLUB, FOUNDED 1947.
Though the game was invented in the United States in 1891, by Dr James Naismith, a Canadian of Scottish descent, it did not arrive in Scotland officially until after the Second World War. Some basketball had been played prior to 1939 by American students at the Pleasance gymnasium in Edinburgh but it was on a cold, foggy night - the first of November 1946 that a group of men, recently demobilised from the services, sat round a table in the CCPR (Central Council for Physical Recreation) office at 21 St.Andrews Square, Edinburgh to lay the foundations of the sport in Scotland. They were led by a human dynamo of a man named J.A. (Jock) Kerr Hunter. With the minimum of resources and finance he set about his formidable task. His motto was 'NOTHING HAPPENS UNLESS YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN'.
With his urging the Amateur Basketball Association of Scotland and the East of Scotland Basketball Association were formed. The first recorded meeting of the East is 17/01/47. The priorities were planning, premises, and players. The planning part was fairly straightforward as people with organisational skills were in good supply which was more than could be said for playing facilities. The Pleasance, which had and still has one of the finest wooden floors, was the best available venue. Local army drill halls such as Dalmeny Street, Forrest Road, and Gilmore Place were utilised but were both cold and dirty with little or no changing facilities. Jock Kerr Hunter gave invaluable assistance in providing equipment from a 'shoe-string' budget but it was also the enthusiasm of the founder member clubs which helped to overcome these early difficulties. Heriot's FP, Pleasance, Polonia and Redford were the early clubs in the East. In the late 1940' and early 50's the local newspapers, mainly the 'Pink' Evening News and 'Green' Evening Dispatch, provided results, game reports, league tables, statistics and player profiles. Exhibition matches were also a feature. One of the highlights was the visit of the United States Olympic team to Edinburgh in 1948 to play at the Ross bandstand in Princes Street Gardens in front of over 1000 people. This team went on to lift the Olympic title in London.
Five Pleasance players were in the first international teams to play England in 1947. They were Ray Campbell, Jimmy Carter, Jock Fisher, George Hill, and Grant Hutchison. Campbell, Fisher and Hunter together with Alex Kirk, Arthur Wright, E Henrikson and Walter Smail, all Edinburgh, went on to represent Scotland at the European Championships in Paris in 1951. Pleasance won the first Scottish Cup Final in 1947 defeating Aberdeen University at the Kelvin Hall and defended their title successfully in 1948 beating Jordanhill in Princes Street Gardens.
SPONSORSHIP
Here at CantEvenLift we want to encourage sports in Scotland in any way we can and what better way than basketball?
Website: https://www.pleasancebasketball.co.uk/home
Instagram: @pleasance_bc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PleasanceBasketball