Huddersfield Heat Basketball Club Folds After 23 Years

EBL Division 1 side, Huddersfield Heat will, as of today, cease to exist due to concerns about the long term sustainability and future of the club in Huddersfield.

The news was announced at around 11:30am this morning (21 August) through the club’s official facebook page.

In a statement from club co-founder Eduardo Perez, the club expressed their sadness at the decision (full statement below main article).

“Today is a sad day, as our great club has reached the point where it simply cannot continue to operate. Structures and plans put in place over the last two years to push the club on and manage our progression have not come to complete fruition much to our frustration.”

“Commitments made to us regarding funding streams have not been forthcoming, and with other uncertainties factored into this, only one logical decision remained.”

“We have had some incredible highs, but also some tough struggles over the years, and we look back over our years now with incredible pride over what we achieved.”

“We are glad that our end has come we have been able to go out on top. Its a shame with the circumstances, that we are not able to show our worth in Division 1 this coming season, which I think we would have done.”

The question remains as to what now happens to the remaining 14th spot in EBL Division 1 for the forthcoming season.

England Basketball remain unaware of the withdrawal.

“As it stands, England Basketball are yet to receive anything official in writing from any of our clubs regarding this current situation,” Emma Young, England Basketball’s Communications & PR Officer said to Hoopsfix.

“Therefore, until we do, there is no official decision to be made regarding a potentially available spot in EBL Division 1 for this season”

However, EB quite obviously have a decision to make with the news coming from the team itself.

At the end of last season there was a wide feeling that due to the loss of Leeds and Bristol to the BBL, that Ipswich Basketball Club should have received a place in the top flight.

“At the end of last season England Basketball requested that we put forward our case for one of the two spots available in Division 1. Our circumstances haven’t changed since that time and we would leap at the opportunity to compete against the best teams in the country,” said Ipswich Head Coach Nick Drane when asked what would happen if they were offered Huddersfield’s spot in Division 1.

Amid speculation of a potential funding crisis in UK Basketball, it is not the first time that a club that appeared to be growing so well (who even had plans for their own facility), suffered a disappointing and rather sudden end.

Is this a sign of potential problems for more clubs in the EBL? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Full Huddersfield Heat statement:

“Today is a sad day, as our great club has reached the point where it simply cannot continue to operate. Structures and plans put in place over the last two years to push the club on and manage our progression have not come to complete fruition much to our frustration. Commitments made to us regarding funding streams have not been forthcoming, and with other uncertainties factored into this, only one logical decision remained. The pressures of running the club in Huddersfield have increased year on year, and it was felt that there was too much risk in continuing with the current uncertainties. After a long history, 4 national titles and 3 national promotions, we really hoped that the town would get behind us, but in particular commercially, this did not happen.

We have had some incredible highs, but also some tough struggles over the years, and we look back over our years now with incredible pride over what we achieved. We’d like to thank England Basketball for all their support over the years, in particular Nicky Brown and Simon Turton, and we wish them the best of luck in driving this great sport forward. To all the players that pulled on the Heat shirt, a heartfelt thank you for your effort and commitment over the years to help make this club what it became. To all the coaches and players we faced, thank you too, for these incredible experiences would have been nothing without you all, and we wish you all the best for the future in whichever direction you take. In our region, we wish all the best to Leeds Force and Bradford Dragons, and we sincerely hope that you have all the success that you have always worked so hard to achieve. And a final thank you to those who did support us loyally, it was thoroughly appreciated.

We are glad that our end has come we have been able to go out on top. Its a shame with the circumstances, that we are not able to show our worth in Division 1 this coming season, which I think we would have done.

There are many individuals that could be thanked personally, but this has been done in private and will continue to be done over the next few days. Again, a big thank you to everyone involved in our journey.”