Super League Basketball (SLB) announced on Wednesday, August 5, that professional basketball is returning to Liverpool. Starting in the 2026-27 season, Liverpool Basketball's men's professional team will compete, with the M&S Bank Arena serving as their home venue.
The club is not the city's first attempt at the sport, however. On June 19, 2007, the Mersey Tigers won a bid to become a start-up franchise as the 12th member of the new British Basketball League, the country's elite competition.
Everton Tigers era
The club originally ran under the name Everton Tigers, acting as an official partner of Everton Football Club and representing a merger with the Toxteth Tigers community youth programme that began in 1968. They followed in the footsteps of Manchester United, Glasgow Rangers, Portsmouth, and Newcastle United, to become only the fifth football club to field a basketball team in the history of British basketball.
The new club was centred around the community initiatives of Everton Football Club, led by Gary Townsend, and the established Toxteth Tigers community basketball club. A primary focus for the new organisation was youth development, while Henry Mooney, head of the Toxteth programme, was chosen to lead the senior team.
Early success and decline
The team made several high-profile signings including Chris Haslam, Calvin Davis and BBL veteran Delme Herriman. The assembled squad played their first ever game on September 29, 2007, against Manchester Magic. Despite trailing for most of the match, with Magic leading 71–62 in the final two minutes, Tigers salvaged the match and pulled together a 14–0 run, storming to a 71–76 victory.
The Tigers went on to win the BBL Cup in their second season and finished as runners-up in the league. However, in July 2010, Everton withdrew funding, and the club re-launched as Mersey Tigers.
Financial troubles and end
In 2013, it was officially announced that the Tigers franchise had withdrawn from the BBL due to financial difficulties that had plagued the club throughout the previous season, resulting in the Tigers becoming the first-ever BBL club to complete an entire season without a single victory.
The ECHO delved into its archives to unearth photographs of the Mersey Tigers from their heyday.
