Sheffield Hatters not shy in chasing quadruple dream as new era dawns for famous name
For decades Sheffield Hatters were the bastions of women’s basketball in Great Britain, the dominant force in the nineties and noughties, but in the post-Covid world they were on their knees.
Playing to crowds of fewer than 200 at a college sports hall in the city, they couldn’t fund a professional team in 2021 and Betty Codona, their matriarch, took the tough decision to withdraw from the league.
It was then that their big brothers at the Sharks reached out and began the process of takeover talks that resulted in a deal signed in the last days of Codona’s trailblazing life which a few years on has sparked a new era of professionalism for the famous name that this season is enjoying halcyon days once more.
On Sunday, the Hatters head to Manchester to take on the hosts in the Super League Basketball Cup final hoping to secure a second piece of silverware in a season they hope ends in quadruple success.
Now firmly ensconced in the professional environment of the Canon Medical Arena alongside the men’s Sharks, the Hatters are reaping the rewards of investment from American entrepreneur Vaughn Millette who bought both teams two years ago, and expertise from the people at ground level. At the head of that is Sarah Backovic, ceo for both clubs.
“Sharks took charge in Spring 2022,” says Backovic, who has been with the men’s team since its inception in 1991. “Betty and I had agreed, and Vanessa (Ellis - head coach) was present, that we would step in and take on the operation of the professional team which required a complete handover of commercial activity and management activity.
“Betty was extremely enthusiastic about it, she thought it would be a good legacy for the future. Unfortunately she passed away about a week after we’d signed the deal. It was very sad, but it made us more determined to do a good job in memory of her efforts. It was no mean feat to keep the show on the road for 50-some years with very little assistance."
The opening of the Canon Medical Arena, a £14m privately-financed facility that merged a basketball venue with a medical centre, in autumn 2023 lit the blue touch paper on the growth of both the men’s and women’s teams.
Millette’s money accelerated the growth but Backovic admits there was much to learn, and even as late as last season, they were still making mistakes.
“I misunderstood it when I first got into the women’s side, I thought we could do double-headers with the Sharks games and we’d carry the audience through,” says Backovic.
“But it’s such a long day for a spectator that it was actually doing the women a disservice. They were going on after the men, sometimes 7.30 on a Sunday night, because the men had to be on at a certain time for broadcast. We realised we were wasting our time trying to build an audience off the men, so let’s separate it and build that product as an attraction in its own right.”
By making Sharks a Sunday afternoon offering and the Hatters a Saturday night proposition, they have seen a four-fold increase in attendances for women’s game, getting close to 750 fans.
Even now, treating the two as a separate entities while working for the collective is a fine line to tread.
“I think having a men’s and women’s team under one roof is a good model so long as you retain perspective,” continues Backovic. “There’s a tendency to think if the men have this then women should have it, or if the women have something, the men should have it as well.
“You’ve got to understand that while they are the same they are also different and you need to apply the same effort into getting them to a level. For Hatters games now we’re getting 600-700 people, sometimes more, but that’s taken two years to figure out how do we market the women? It’s not as simple as the men who are established and have more exposure. Vaughn coming in and enhancing the Hatters has enabled us to build on that foundation.”
While the Sharks have struggled to shake off inconsistency this season, the Hatters are chasing glory on four fronts. They have already lifted the Betty Codona Trophy, are favourites against Manchester in Sunday’s Cup final, have a one-game lead in the league and will be favourites for the end-of-season play-offs.
“It would be just a phenomenal success story,” says Backovic, for whom retaining the legacy of the club has always been important.
"It was important to instil the history of the club into anyone who walked through the door.
“It was important after Betty passed away because we had reached agreement in such a positive way.”
Taking to the court on Sunday will be 16-year-old Ella Wright, a Sheffield girl who is the product of the club’s youth system.
Backovic concludes: “The success of Ella, someone I remember seeing when she was 13, is an example of what can be achieved in this sport and continues the legacy.”
Men’s league offers stability
Both the men’s and women’s leagues form part of Super League Basketball.
With six of the 11 clubs in the women’s professional league connected to a men’s team, Hatters ceo Backovic believes it is a good environment for the women’s game to grow.
“For now, yes,” she says. “There’s some stability around it. You need a solid foundation to grow, and the two leagues linked allows us to do that.
“I think the women are catching up at a rapid rate. Maybe in the future it will be able to stand alone independently, but right now, they need the stability of the men.”