The BBL Trophy can trace its origins back to a previous competition known as the
Anglo-Scottish Cup which was founded in 1984. The Anglo-Scottish Cup featured teams from the
English National Basketball League and the National League of Scotland, and was first won by Scottish team
Livingston in 1985. The competition was renamed as the
British Masters Cup for the following season and though the initial group stage was played early in the regular season, the knock-out stages were now played during the post-season, almost simultaneously with the Play-offs.
Birmingham Bullets emerged as the competition's second winners, and the first from England, whilst emerging powerhouse
Kingston won the 1987 edition. The new competition, sponsored by
NatWest and christened as the
NatWest Trophy, featured only the 15 member teams of
Carlsberg League, including new Scottish entrant and former Anglo-Scottish Cup winner, Livingston. The first round of the new tournament divided the 15 teams into regional groups, with each group winner progressing to the Semi-final stage.
Calderdale Explorers and Livingston progressed from the two Northern groups, whilst Kingston and
Portsmouth advanced in the Southern groups. In the Semi-finals the two Northern area teams competed against each other, as did the two Southern teams, to ensure the Final would feature a North versus South match-up. The Semi-finals were played as a two-game series, with the winner decided by the biggest
aggregate score. Portsmouth advanced in the Southern encounter with Kingston, winning 168–167 on aggregate, whilst Livingston beat Calderdale 158–142 on aggregate from the North. The first Final was played at the
Aston Villa Leisure Centre, where Livingston continued their success from the British Masters Cup by beating Portsmouth 96–91 to become the first and so far only Scottish winners. Due to a decline in members for the second edition, an even 12 teams were divided into two regionalised groups for the first round with the top four teams (from six) advancing through to a Quarter-final stage which also used the two-game aggregate scoring system. The first round reverted to a single North and a single South group format whilst there was also the return of the Quarter-finals round which was still played as a two-game series. Due to the uneven number of teams competing in the group stage, several teams received
byes into the Quarter-final stage. This format remained consistent for the next three seasons, in a period that saw Southern domination in the Trophy from the London Towers franchise as they reach three consecutive Finals, winning in 1996 and 1997 and finishing as Runners-up in 1998. A change in sponsorship saw the competition rebranded as the
uni-ball Trophy in 1997 after a naming rights agreement was made with the
Mitsubishi Pencil Company. Further changes were introduced in 1998, as for the first time the Trophy's first round group stage was not based on geographical region and instead were drawn at random whilst the Quarter-final stage became a single-game round. However it was underdogs Plymouth Raiders who took home their first BBL silverware with a 74–65 victory in the Final, in front of a crowd of over 5,000 people.
Guildford Heat won the 2008 Trophy Final at Plymouth's
Pavilions arena as Newcastle again finished as Runners-up, but in an identical match-up in the 2009 Final, Eagles beat Guildford 83–71 at their own home venue,
the Spectrum. This season also saw the return of the two-game series for the Semi-finals stage whilst the
2009–10 edition saw the removal of the group stage for the First round in favour of a straight knock-out tournament with 16 teams entered, including
London Leopards,
Manchester Magic and Reading Rockets from the English Basketball League. The Trophy Final was again played at the Spectrum for the 2010 Final where Newcastle were again victorious over the Cheshire Jets. For the first time since 2001, the Trophy received corporate sponsorship through a naming rights agreement with clothing brand
Franklin & Marshall for the
2010–11 season. The
Franklin & Marshall Trophy Final was held at the
O2 Arena in London as part of the
NBA's "Basketball Week" and saw
Mersey Tigers pick-up their first Trophy with an 84–66 victory over Guildford. For the
2011–12 season, the competition had received another major change to its format with the Trophy Final organised as a two-game series and the winner decided by an aggregate scoring system, making it the first time that the Final was not played as a single-game event. Newcastle and Plymouth competed for the Trophy over two games, with Plymouth winning their home fixture 97–88, but Newcastle's 96–80 victory at their
Sport Central venue meant that the Eagles had won with an aggregate score of 184–177. By winning their fifth BBL Trophy, Newcastle Eagles are currently the most successful club in the competition, overshadowing Chester Jets' total of four Trophy's, won from 2001 to 2004. The
2012–13 season saw the competition operate as a straight knock-out contest as it did for the 2009–10 season. Four invitees – Edinburgh Kings,
Essex Leopards, Reading Rockets and Worthing Thunder – were brought in from the EBL to bring the number of entrants to 16. Thunder made history and became the first ever non-BBL team to progress past the 1st Round of the competition after an 84–64 win at home to
Mersey Tigers on 6 January 2013. Sheffield Sharks claimed their second Trophy title with a 2-point win over Leicester in the Final at Glasgow's
Emirates Arena. Glasgow's Emirates Arena hosted a second successive final in 2014, but
Glasgow Rocks who were appearing in their first Trophy Final were not able to use their home court to their advantage as
Worcester Wolves' convincing 83–76 victory in front of 5,000 people earned them their first ever BBL silverware. ==Format==