Sheffield united: How Sharks and Hatters came together to save one club and strengthen them both

But on Sunday the Sharks and Hatters descend on Nottingham for Super League Basketball’s Cup finals day as one club, united in their bid to end individual trophy droughts by bringing double success back to Sheffield.

The Sharks, in existence since 1991, are marginal favourites in the men’s final against Surrey 89ers as they seek to end a nine-year search for silverware.

The Hatters, the birthplace of women’s basketball in Britain in 1961, last won a trophy back in 2018, but as they prepare to face Oaklands Wolves in the women’s SLB Cup final, thoughts of where they have been and how close they came to ceasing to be since that last taste of glory will not be far from their minds. Indeed, were it not for the the Sharks, the Hatters might not be here at all.

“If Sharks had not come to us and invited us here we probably wouldn’t have had a senior team,” says Vanessa Ellis, Hatters’ head coach and daughter of club founder Betty Codona, as she looks around the privately-financed Canon Medical Arena the two teams share.

“That’s how worrying it had become for us. For so long we were run by volunteers.”

It is only four years ago that Ellis, her mum and the club withdrew the team from the women’s British Basketball League for a season because they could not raise the £60,000 required to operate in a post-Covid landscape. No team had been as successful as the Hatters in the women’s game but that badge of honour suddenly counted for nothing.

Before that absent season was out, the Hatters would lose Betty, who was not just a matriarch for the club but a huge figure in the British basketball community. Hatters needed a helping hand, and it was the Sharks who offered them one.

“We were really struggling for finances but once Sharks invited us to be a part of this amazing arena it revived the Hatters and it’s given us a platform to succeed again,” says Ellis.

“One of the legacies of my mum, Betty Codona, is that people kept going through tough times.

“We could quite easily have given up the senior women’s team but there were enough people who wanted to keep it going.

“Fortune has it that Sharks built this, they offered us the chance to be a part of it and it secured our future.

“We’ve had so many ups and downs condensed into such a short space of time.”

Which is why the Hatters name being back in a British cup final resonates with so many in the game.

It will be a special occasion for Georgia Gayle, a homegrown Hatters player who learnt basketball at her local club, began playing in their last great trophy-winning era and returned home after playing in Spain during their fallow year. She is also Vanessa’s niece and the granddaughter of Betty.

A few years below her is team-mate Shauna Harrison, who grew up in Handsworth, and but for four years away on a basketball scholarship in America, still lives there after coming back to the Hatters two years ago.

“I’m a Hatters girl so Sunday will mean a lot to me, on the big stage, representing my hometown club,” says the 24-year-old forward.

“I started playing for this club at seven-years-old. I’d been wanting to play basketball for a while but couldn’t find a club and then they came in and did a session in my school for six weeks and I’ve been here ever since.”

Being lured back to play at a venue like the Canon Medical Arena where there are three courts and all the facilities they need is an easy one, but that doesn’t mean Harrison has forgotten the club’s roots.

“This arena is beautiful. I love having a space that is focused on us,” says Harrison. “But I do still love playing at All Saints College, it feels like it connects me with our juniors because that was me when I was young. I remember watching (club legend) Helen Naylor practising and that helped motivate me.”

Now to start shaping a new era of success. Standing in their way at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena are the Oaklands Wolves, who sit atop the Super League Basketball standings with an 11-1 (win-loss) record. The Hatters are hot on their heels with an 11-2 record, but one of those defeats was against the Wolves.

“We were really inconsistent in that game,” laments Ellis, an experienced coach who has plenty of cup finals under her belt.

“The key for the final is for us to have confidence and belief and just put out a consistent performance.

“Hopefully this kickstarts us. The support and facility gives you that foundation to build and build, and hopefully it leads to more success.”

Harrison adds: “Back in the day Hatters were ‘the’ club winning all the silverware, so it would mean a lot to bring home a trophy.”