Sheffield Sharks ready for 1,000th BBL game in Christmas Eve test at London Lions

The trip to the champions marks their 1,000th game in the British Basketball League championship and their 1,300th overall in the top flight of the domestic game – but also their first on Christmas Eve.

At least that’s the recollection of Yuri Matischen, their co-founder as the Forgers 32 years ago, the man who took them into the elite tier a couple of years later, who has been on the sideline for all but a handful of those games and who has helped set them up for the future with the move into the Canon Medical Arena this past year.

“It’s a tribute to all those who have been involved with the club for all those years, from volunteers to staff, how much they have contributed to the past 30 years to ensure we might have another 30 years going forward,” Matischen told The Yorkshire Post. “We’re in an exciting place.”

Sharks may be going through a trophy drought that stretches back to 2016 at the moment, as new money comes into different parts of the league, but there can be no questioning their status as one of the great franchises of British basketball over the past three decades.

They have won each of the four trophies on offer on multiple occasions and their win percentage over 998 games (ahead of Bristol Flyers on Friday night and London Lions on Sunday) stands at 66 per cent, roughly two wins every three games.

“We’ve been consistently competitive,” says Matischen. “Sometimes in the league there’s one or two big financial players and we’re slowly creeping up the scale. We’ve always tried to be top four where we can.

“This is our 29th season; 28 successive play-off campaigns. From the moment we entered the BBL we’ve never missed the play-offs, we even won the league and cup in that first year.”

Asked for a favourite memory, Matischen has two: “The first year winning a league and cup double was crazy, remarkable even.

"The iconic win for me is the Terrell Myers shot at the Manchester Arena, on the final game of the season on Good Friday, live on Sky, he hits a winning shot at the buzzer to win the league title, 11,000 in attendance. It was a huge moment.”

Can they mark that 1,000th game with a win over London Lions?

“I can’t remember us ever playing Christmas Eve before,” he laughs. “Maybe it’s a Christmas gift, because playing London is a free hit and brings out the best in you.”