The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition, from 2004 to 2021. The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs and went on to be the longest-serving and most successful team in Division 1 of the English Basketball League. Between 1996 and 2004, Plymouth Raiders won six different competitions, including three National Basketball League Play-off titles and the National Cup in 2004. After several years of dominating the second-tier English Basketball League, in 2004 the Raiders moved up to the franchise-based British Basketball League, pitting themselves against the country's elite teams. Their only success in the top-tier competition came in 2007, winning the BBL Trophy, though the team reached a further three Trophy and BBL Cup Finals in later years. The Raiders announced their withdrawal from the British Basketball League following the 2020–21 season citing increased rental costs of their home venue, the Plymouth Pavilions, as the primary factor though later investigations revealed that the Raiders organisation had accumulated a debt of over £800,000, including unpaid taxes amounting to £161,882. Following the demise of the Raiders, the city retained it's place in the British Basketball League with the newly-formed Plymouth City Patriots. History Foundation and early years (1983–1996) Plymouth Raiders' origins can be traced back to the mid-1970s with the original National League team Plymouth Panasonic, coached by future Raiders co-founder Frank Pocock ( age 82 of 2020 ) who entered national competition for the first and only time in 1979. Panasonic achieved a respectable 7th-place finish in Division Two before withdrawing during the close season due to a lack of finances, after which they were renamed Plymouth Kanaries and entered into the regional leagues in 1980. Deciding to have another attempt at establishing a National League club, Pocock along with local basketball figures Bob Karruck, Martyn Moon, Keith Mollard and businessman Les Palmer (of the Wrigley's company) formed a consortium in 1983 and merged the Kanaries with local rivals Plympton to form a new club. A sponsorship deal was arranged with pharmaceutical producer Glucodin and the team adopted their brand colours of red and yellow for their inaugural season in National League Division 2. Raiders played their first game on 1 October 1983 at the Mayflower Centre, losing by one point, 75–76 to the visiting Merseyside