A number of Business Management in Sport MSc students from Leicester Castle Business School have recently used the Leicester Riders basketball club collection as part of their Sports Heritage and Legacy Management module. Phoebe Jones was tasked with writing about ‘match day programmes’ using materials from the archive collection:
Match programmes are produced for every home match. They usually cost a small amount of money, but include a range of information about the club, including match stats, player profiles and the team sheet for that game.
The Riders have had a number of names over the years. When they were founded in 1967[1] they were called the All-Stars, which can be seen on the cover of one of the programmes from the 1981/82 season in figure 1[2] (see appendix). Other titles include Planters, Walkers and as known today, the Riders. As the programmes suggest, the name of the team usually depends on the title sponsor at the time.
The front cover of a programme from the 1981/82 season, for a match between Leicester and Milton Keynes.
The name ‘Riders’ came from the sponsorship of the team by Leicester City Bus, and Leicester City Council. As the advert on the back of a programme from the 1986/87 season suggests (see figure 2[3]), everyone can be ‘Riders’ by using the city bus.
An advert for the Leicester City Bus on the back of a programme from the 1986/87 season
The layout of the programme cover has changed a lot over the years, in the beginning they were very simple, for example the cover shown in figure 1[4], from the 1981/82 season. Similarities follow through to the programmes from the 1984/85 season; the same three colours, red, white and blue are used, with the addition of a black sketch of a player in the team kit (see figure 3[5]).
The cover of a programme from the 1984/85 season, for a match between Leicester and Worthing Bears.
For the 1996/97 season the cover of the programmes celebrated the 30th Birthday of the club, as highlighted by the large number 30 over the Riders logo and a number of pictures from the last 30 years (see figure 4[6]).
The cover of the Riders’ 30th Birthday edition of the programme, for the 1996/97 season.
A programme cover from the 2003/04 season is noticeably different from the past designs. The most obvious difference is the black and white image, where in the past few years they had been in colour. The only colour on the cover is the background where the text sits (see figure 5[7]). Another notable point is that it does not feature a player, rather the coach at the time, Billy Mims. A clue suggesting that the fans valued the coach of the team just as much as the actual players.
The front cover of a programme from the 2003/04 season, with the image depicting the coach Billy Mims.
One consistent feature on all covers is the date and time of the game, and the visiting team. It also sometimes includes the price and the location, such as ‘Granby Halls, Leicester’ on the 1981/82 cover (see figure 1[8]). Despite the many design changes over the years, this information is always located in a clear and obvious place, commonly towards the bottom (see images 3[9], 4[10] and 5[11]).
It is not only the covers that have changed over time, the pages inside have also changed, including the number of pages, the content and the amount of adverts. A programme from the 1981/82 season only had 20 pages, slowly throughout the years this number increased on the most part, excluding a programme from the 1985/86 season which only had 16 pages. Unsurprisingly the 30th Birthday edition from 1996/97 (see figure 4[12]) had 40 pages, and from there on the number stayed around 30.
The majority of adverts in the programmes are for local Leicester companies. However one anomaly is the advert for the British ferry company ‘Sealink’ in a programme from the 1985/86 season (see figure 6[13]). It is unusual for the programme to include a national company, especially when Leicester is in the middle of the country, and not near the sea.
An advert for ‘Sealink’ ferries in a programme from the 1985/86 season.
An interesting change in the order of pages in the programmes occurred between the 1999/2000 and 2000/01 seasons. Up to 1999/2000 the middle page spread of the match programmes had always been the team sheet for that game, including the names of the players and where they are from, as well as the names of the coaches and officials for that match; before the internet this was the fans only way of knowing the teams before a match. Surrounding this was usually advertisements, for example the pages seen in figure 7[14]; or the pages were simple with plenty of space around (see figure 8[15]) or, perhaps for fans to make notes throughout the game, as seen in figure 9[16].
The middle page spread showing the team sheet for a match between Leicester and Warrington, in the 1982/83 season.
The middle page spread showing the team sheet for a match between Leicester Riders and Thames Valley Tigers, in the 1991/92 season.
The middle page spread showing the team sheet for the 4 teams in the ‘Tournament of Champions’ in the 1987/88 season. N/B the notes made by the owner of this programme.
The addition of a new feature in the 2000/01 season meant the middle page spread was now filled with a full length, colour photograph of one of the Riders players (see figure 10[17]). This was presumably designed in order for the fans to pull the photograph out and pin on their wall or to keep in a collection. These changes most likely occurred due to advancements in technology and colour printing, and the increased popularity and celebrity like nature of sports stars.
: The pull-out poster as the middle page spread in a programme from 2000/01 season. The image is of Riders player Larry Johnson.
[1] Front cover of the Leicester versus Worthing Bear Match Programme, 30th Birthday edition, 26 Mar 1997, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[2] Front cover of the Leicester versus Milton Keynes Match Programme, 21 Nov 1981, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[3] Back page of the British Masters versus Aberdare Match Programme, 14 Mar 1987, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[4] Front cover of the Leicester versus Milton Keynes Match Programme, 21 Nov 1981.
[5] Front cover of the Leicester versus Worthing Bears Match Programme, 10 Nov 1984, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[6] Front cover of the Leicester versus Worthing Bear Match Programme, 30th Birthday edition, 26 Mar 1997.
[7] Front cover of the Leicester versus Westfield Sharks Sheffield Match Programme, 11 Oct 2003, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[8] Front cover of the Leicester versus Milton Keynes Match Programme, 21 Nov 1981.
[9] Front cover of the Leicester versus Worthing Bears Match Programme, 10 Nov 1984.
[10] Front cover of the Leicester versus Worthing Bear Match Programme, 30th Birthday edition, 26 Mar 1997.
[11] Front cover of the Leicester versus Westfield Sharks Sheffield Match Programme, 11 Oct 2003.
[12] Leicester versus Worthing Bear Match Programme, 30th Birthday edition, 26 Mar 1997.
[13] Page 3 of the Leicester versus Brunel/Camden Ducks Match Programme, 11 Oct 1985, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[14] Pages 12 and 13 of the Leicester versus Warrington Match Programme, 12 Jan 1983, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[15] Pages 12 and 13 of the Leicester versus Thames Valley Tigers Match Programme, 13 Feb 1992, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[16] Pages 12 and 13 of the Tournament of Champions Match Programme, 1 Jan 1988, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.
[17] Pages 16 and 17 of the Leicester versus Chester Jets Match Programme, 14 Oct 2000, Match Programme Folder, Leicester Riders Collection 1981-2016, De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections, De Montfort University Library, Leicester, United Kingdom.