# 1980–81 National Basketball League season

The 1980–81 Rotary Watches National Basketball League season was the ninth season of the National Basketball League.
The league was sponsored by Rotary Watches for the third consecutive year and Birmingham Team Fiat broke the Crystal Palace monopoly by taking the league title. Sunderland provided a major shock when securing the Play Offs title. Palace, who were expected to make a clean sweep of silverware, gained some consolation by winning the National Cup.

## Team changes

Coventry Team Fiat were rebranded Birmingham and moved to a larger venue at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre which served as a catalyst for their success. Manchester took on the name Trafford for the season but apart from this the teams remained the same. A team called Solent Stars backed by a millionaire businessman called Harry Smith easily won the second division and competed successfully against first division teams in tournaments.

## National League
### First Division

| Pos | Team | P | W | L | F | A | Pts |
| 1 | Birmingham Team Fiat | 18 | 17 | 1 | 1748 | 1530 | 34 |
| 2 | Crystal Palace | 18 | 16 | 2 | 1787 | 1467 | 32 |
| 3 | Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine | 18 | 13 | 5 | 1725 | 1498 | 26 |
| 4 | Sunderland Saints | 18 | 11 | 7 | 1633 | 1490 | 22 |
| 5 | John Carr Doncaster | 18 | 9 | 9 | 1549 | 1441 | 20 |
| 6 | Stockport Belgrade | 18 | 7 | 11 | 1510 | 1638 | 14 |
| 7 | Trafford Giants | 18 | 6 | 12 | 1418 | 1563 | 12 |
| 8 | Kelly Girls International Kingston | 18 | 5 | 13 | 1546 | 1680 | 10 |
| 9 | Team Talbot, Guildford Pirates | 18 | 4 | 14 | 1470 | 1730 | 8 |
| 10 | Blackpool Pacemakers | 18 | 2 | 16 | 1386 | 1735 | 6 |

### Second Division

| Pos | Team | P | W | L | F | A | Pts |
| 1 | Solent Stars | 16 | 15 | 1 | 1824 | 1221 | 30 |
| 2 | Brighton Bears | 16 | 13 | 3 | 1654 | 1426 | 26 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 16 | 11 | 5 | 1731 | 1241 | 22 |
| 4 | National Breakdown Leeds | 16 | 11 | 5 | 1448 | 1303 | 22 |
| 5 | Camden & Hampstead | 16 | 8 | 8 | 1457 | 1468 | 16 |
| 6 | Nottingham | 16 | 5 | 11 | 1266 | 1430 | 10 |
| 7 | Brunel Uxbridge | 16 | 5 | 11 | 1258 | 1481 | 10 |
| 8 | Colchester Moels | 16 | 2 | 14 | 1201 | 1592 | 4 |
| 9 | Hemeling Wolverhampton | 16 | 2 | 14 | 1272 | 1779 | 4 |

## Rotary Watches playoffs
### Semi-finals

| venue & date | Team 1 | Team 2 | Score |
| March 13, Wembley Arena | Birmingham Team Fiat | Sunderland Saints | 73-80 |
| March 13, Wembley Arena | Crystal Palace | Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine | 88-86 |

### Final

* 14 March
| Sunderland Saints | 96–92 | Crystal Palace |
| Pts: David Lloyd ??, Gregg Bunch ??, James McCauley ?? | | Pts: Dan Lloyd ??, Bob Roma ??, Clive Hartley ??, Alton Byrd ?? |
* Wembley Arena

## Asda National Cup
### First round

| Team 1 | Team 2 | Score |
| Hemel Hempstead Ovaltine | Crystal Palace | 83-97 |
| Stockport Belgrade | National Breakdown Leeds | 78-80 |
| Sunderland Saints | Liverpool | 103-78 |
| John Carr Doncaster | Trafford Giants | 88-87 aet |
| Brighton Bears | Solent Stars | 105-129 |
| Nottingham | Birmingham Team Fiat | 69-105 |
| Brunel Uxbridge | KGI Kingston | 74-118 |
| Colchester Moles | Team Talbot Guildford | 77-104 |

### Quarter-finals

| Team 1 | Team 2 | Score |
| KGI Kingston | Crystal Palace | 70-81 |
| National Breakdown Leeds | Sunderland Saints | 71-82 |
| Team Talbot Guildford | John Carr Doncaster | 71-83 |
| Solent Stars | Birmingham Team Fiat | 98-101 |

### Semi-finals

| venue & date | Team 1 | Team 2 | Score |
| Dec 05, Bradford | John Carr Doncaster | Sunderland Saints | 73-68 |
| Dec 12, Bletchley | Crystal Palace | Birmingham Team Fiat | 94-73 |

### Final

* 23 January 1981
| Crystal Palace | 91–74 | John Carr Doncaster |
| Pts: Bob Roma 24, Clive Hartley 19, Alton Byrd 16, Dan Lloyd 10, Paul Stimpson 8, Richard Rudd 6, Pete Jeremich 6, Kolton Lee 2 | | Pts: Cliff Bell 20, Danny Randall 17, Paul Richards 16, Steve O'Shea 11, Ian Day 6, Chris Bycroft 4 |
* Coventry Sports Centre