Sheffield Sharks chairman Yuri Matischen shares his thoughts on the clubs 25 years and how the cub can move forward.
The club were originally formed in 1991 as the Sheffield Forgers but changed to the Sharks in 1994.
The Sharks have had many successful years including 14 titles along the way which makes them one of the most successful teams in the league, however Yuri feels along with a lot of other Sharks fans that his best moment is the BBL Playoff win in 2016.
Yuri said: “Everything about the day was special, despite being underdogs the atmosphere on the team coach was very special, a feeling that we can win as we had a very good and solid group of guys.
It was a very close match but I felt that Atiba and lads did enough to win it and the celebrations after went long into the night.”
The 1991 World University Games which was held in Sheffield created an amazing opportunity for new sporting facilities and provide the catalyst for many new sporting teams in the city.
Having played Basketball Yuri wanted to create a professional men’s basketball team to compliment the very successful Sheffield Hatters women’s team.
Yuri said: “A group of us formed the Sheffield Forgers men’s team and started to play in Division 3 of the national league as an amateur team in Autumn 1991, progressing through to Division 1 in 1994.”
The club then showed an interest in joining the British Premier League and were fortunate to get the support and investment of the sports TV and music company, Chrysalis.
They enabled the men’s team to move into the British Basketball League in the 1994-95 season where the Sharks won the league and cup in their first season.
Yuri went on to say the ambition at the beginning was to create a basketball club for the City playing at the elite level, with junior development programmes available for all younger players.
After 25 years, Yuri said that the only way of progressing was for the Sharks to have their own venue or a venue where basketball was the priority sport.
Yuri said that: “The British Basketball League have signed a new ten-year licence and plan that sees clubs become increasingly more professional for which they have their own venues or have significant University backing.
“Without this I feel the Sharks will always be trying to punch above it’s weight and be struggling to compete for titles.
“Finally I feel that this is no doubt the biggest challenge in the club’s history and it’s almost a make or break situation.”
The club has been operating for 28 years and 25 consecutive years in the BBL. It has only been able to achieve this through amazing financial support from MLS, BBraun, Westfield Health along with many other companies.
In addition, a team of volunteers and passionate fans have enabled the club to be one of the most successful in the BBL.
Sheffield Basketball News 